Save the kids

Introduction

4.1 Purpose and Scope

            Many people across all ages may fear to try and learn swimming on their own due to the fear of drowning also many homes with kids fear to own a swimming pool due to the fear that the child might play near the pool and accidentally fall into it, then drown and die if there is no one to save the child. The smart pool sensor has come do away with this fear and cut on the cost of hiring a pool guy to come and add chemicals to the pool. This device will also work in public swimming places and relieve the life guards that are always on watch in case someone drowns. This device connected to an app in the phone of a life saver will alert him/her in case there is someone drowning in the pool. This will help control deaths that result from drowning in public swimming pools. A survey conducted by WHO shows that drowning is amoung the leading causes of unintentional deaths (World Health Organization, 2018). This amount of deaths can now be minimized by this device that will be linked to a smart phone app that will detect when someone is drowning.

In a country like China many children die from drowning every year (World Health Organization, 2018). The use of this device will help save the life of many children not only in China but the world at large. Parents will be no longer afraid to own a swimming pool due to the fear of their child drowning to death. They will be able to know when their child falls accidentally in to the pool by keeping their app close at all times. On top of ensuring the safety of children it will help pool owners cut on the cost of hiring a pool guy to come and check the chemical balance of the pool and ensure that they are swimming in a pool where the acid and base are perfectly balanced.

This device has a high scope of selling in the market. It is a life saving device and every person owning a swimming pool, whether a public swimming pool or a private swimming at home will want this device, in order to ensure the safety of those who use the pool. The process of making this device will not require a lot of money since this device will be a modification of the devices in the market already, an example of a device that will guide us in the making of this device is the device that senses when one is in the pool, therefore many unnecessary costs will not be incurred.

4.7 Program Management Plan

To ensure that the project is completed successfully within the scope of time we have planned. We will follow the Gantt chart we made closely and avoid being deviated into another direction. We will also monitor the expenses of the project in order to ensure that the project stays on budget, and meets still meets all its requirements. To measure the performance of our program we will measure the average time the device takes so it can detect a drowning person, and the speed at which it will notify the app that will raise an alarm using, Average Response Time metric, for the device to work effectively it must be able to detect a drowning person fast and alert the app first in order to be able to save live before the person drowns to death (Watson, 2017). For this device to attain its main purpose which is to save life it must be fast in notifying the app. We will also monitor the rate at which this device makes an error using Error Rates. No person will buy an app that makes errors all the time (Watson, 2017). The chances of the device making an error and raising false alarm should be minimized.

5.0 Cost Estimates

5.1 Development Program Estimate

The table below contains an estimation of cost that is likely to be incurred in the process of paying engineers, analysts and other technical staff in the process of making this device. The cost has been broken down to cost per hour.

Table 1: specialty cost

There are other costs that will be incurred apart from that of paying the engineers, analysts and technical staff. The team will also need to incur other costs in the making of the device such as overhead cost. Tests on the device have to be run for approximately 200 hours. The technical team will have to be around until the device is completely effective and ready to be put in the market, where they will also help if any technicality occurs therefore, they will have to be up to date with the developments of the device.

5.2 Piece (Unit) cost breakdown

The device will require an ultrasonic sensor, the estimated cost of an ultrasonic sensor is $60, the device also needs a battery to act as its power source since the size of the device should be small therefore, small batteries are recommendable, the estimated price of a high Duracell battery is $5. This device also will need tom be connected to a WIFI rooter, the estimated price of a WIFI rooter is $35. Manual labor will also be needed in the making of this device, the estimated price of manual labor is $1100. The overhead cost of overseeing the making of this device is approximately $400.

5.3 Production Plan

This device will outdo all the other devices in the market despite the market price that will be set for it since, the market price will be determined by the cost that was incurred when making the device. Compared to other devices in the market this device is still cost effective and users will be able to afford it. The table below shows the estimate of factory tooling and the production cost.

Table 2: cost of factory tooling and cost of prototype production

Devices that sense when one enters the pool do not sense if the person is drowning therefore this device in the market will have an added advantage and will attract a large market. This prototype will be made by components that will be bought from other external suppliers.

Conclusion

. Drowning kills people across all years and is a leading cause of deaths worldwide. The amount of deaths will be controlled with the making of a new proto type device that will be connected to an app in a smart phone that will raise alarm when one is drowning in a pool. This device will attract a vast scope of the market. The cost of paying engineers and other specialists building this device has been estimated and everything has been done to ensure it is cost effective. The price of every component has also been estimated in order to estimate the total price of making this device. This prototype has a high chance of commanding a large market.

References

Watson, M. (2017). 8 Key Application Performance Metrics & How to Measure Them. Retrieved from: https://stackify.com/application-performance-metrics/

World Health Organization. (2018). Drowning. Retrieved from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/drowning

Introduction

            Diversity in culture has both positive and negative impacts on an organization. With communities embracing people from different cultures along with their customs and traditions, society has become diverse with people holding on to some of their traditions while still embracing new customs through their associations with other people. Organizations that aim to help people must therefore find a way to work around the restrictions brought about by culture in order to ensure that their products and services are well received. In the case of health institutions, nurses and other medical professionals face a lot of challenges when treating patients especially because of their traditional beliefs. Although nurses have a responsibility to maintain the organizational culture, they should also strive to strike a balance between the hospital’s culture as well as the patient’s customs and traditions in order to offer the best quality of care.

            Managing nurses and other medical practitioners have the responsibility to preserve life and offer the best quality of care to their patients. Often times, nurses follow a set of guidelines set in place to ensure that the organizational culture is maintained and that patients get the level of care and treatment approved by the organization in line with the code of conduct and regulations governing the organization’s operations. However, managing nurses are often tasked with the decision of determining when it is appropriate to factor in the needs of the patient especially when cultural restrictions may hinder the treatment methods to be used. A problem arises when the organizational culture that nurses are expected to follow goes against the traditions and customs held by the patient due to their cultural beliefs. In such a situation, doctors have to determine which is more important, the approved procedures to follow or the requirements that the patient may have due to their culture.

Problem statement

The main problem that nurses and other medical caregivers face when fulfilling their duties has to do with convincing patients to consider treatment methods that may go against their culture. Since culture has existed longer than most of the guidelines that govern hospitals today, customs and traditional practices have been part of the treatment procedures applied by doctors across the globe. Although people are more likely to follow the directives given by professionals rather than following ones culture, there are occurrences where people place more importance on their cultural beliefs than on the advice given by medical professionals. Doctors have however managed to find a way to help patients without interfering with their culture and this has greatly aided in the success of medicine in treating people regardless of any differences in culture that may exist.

Significance of the study

The main reason for the conflict between people’s culture and organizational cultures maintained by medical institutions has to do with the large knowledge gap between medical professionals and people not as well educated. Often times, people without adequate knowledge place culture over anything else in society including medical assistance from doctors. While nurses are educated and understand the importance of science, technology and medicine, some patients lack this knowledge and strongly believe in what their culture teaches them. Although it is a problem that could hinder the effectiveness of the medical assistance offered to the patient, it is a problem that can be resolved if only doctors find a way to factor in the patient’s cultural beliefs into their treatment. Doing so will ensure that the patients maintain their culture and still get the medical assistance needed without either party having to compromise. There is therefore need for research on how nurses and medical caregivers can go about understanding what culture means to patients as well as what they can do to ensure that culture does not prevent patients from getting the quality of medical care that they deserve.

 Benefits of social media in contemporary society

Introduction

Social media is a form of electronic communication where various platforms are created in order to create online communities, where ideas and information can be exchanged. Examples of these platforms are Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest and Snapchat. Social media is a technology, and like any other technology it comes with its advantages and disadvantages. Although from a certain point of view the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, and it is correct to say that social media plays an important role in modern societies. Social media has easily connected people in different continents. In the field of education social media has helped a lot, social media helps to inform and update people on what’s happening around the globe, social media can also be used to promote businesses and campaigns for noble causes. Lastly, social media can help in the building the image of a business. Social media is an important tool and plays a major role in the advancement of the society.

People who are in separate locations do not have to cut off communications completely because of the availability of social media platform. They are able to communicate using video chats where they can see each other, this is an advantage that has been brought about by presence of social media platforms such as skype. People from various parts of the continent are able to connect with each other through social media and share their ideas beliefs and information (Noor, & Hendricks, 2013). This connectivity has been facilitated by the presence of social media where anyone can create an account and keep in touch with the rest of the world. Social media can be used to influence people towards a certain noble cause. It helps in promoting and raising finances for welfares which are undertaken by Non-Governmental Organizations by spreading the massage quickly to many concerned people.

In the field of education social media has helped in promoting a collaborative learning process, helped in building a community of practice. Social media platforms have also helped in generating of study content. In modern society the traditional face to face communication has become out dated, social media has enhanced the communication between student and the teachers and their fellow students. When there is no time to carry out face to face communication it is easy to log into a social media account and pass some questions to your teacher and still get the answers quick. Social media has also made it possible for students to have online discussions with their fellow students (Noor, & Hendricks, 2013). Social media can also act as a good stress booster for students who have had a long tiring day. Platforms such as Instagram and Facebook can entertain the student after a busy school day.

Social media is being use as a tool to pass information very fast across many different locations. Anyone with a social media account has high chances of knowing what’s taking place around the globe faster than any other person. A tweet twitted on twitter by a person who commands a large group of online followers is likely to be seen by millions of people within very few minutes. Thus social media has made platforms where information can be shared quickly available. This is proved by the fact that Twitter has 328 million users per month, Snapchat has about 166 million users in one day (Noor, & Hendricks, 2013). This is proof enough that information shared on these social platforms will reach millions of people worldwide.

The use of social media to promote businesses is on top of the agenda of many businesses. Businesses have created online social media accounts on platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. Using these platforms, they connect with their employees, customers and a larger market for their products. They also use these platforms to inform the general public about events they will be hosting or new products they will be releasing. Through these social media platforms, the organizations and companies ask the public to express their opinion concerning the events they host or products they have in the market. Using these feedbacks from the public they are able to make changes that are necessary and needed by the consumer of their products (Noor, & Hendricks, 2013). These companies use social media because it is fast and therefore replies from consumers will only take a short time and both the company and consumer will not have to strain trying to meet face to face so as to express their opinion.

Just like any other form of technology social media has its disadvantages that may deter its use. Traditionally bullying was done face to face, but the presence and use of social media has changed that. Social media has made it possible for one to bully another anonymously, this is referred to as cyberbullying. On social media some friends end up terrorizing others by revealing secrets of others on social media which is violation of one’s privacy. Some extreme cases of cyberbullying can lead to the victim committing suicide. Cyberbullying affects all people irrespective of their age (Betts, 2016). Companies can also have their reputation ruined on social media by an anonymous person and sometimes this leads to collapsing of some businesses.

Conclusion

Social media has played a very important role in the advancement of society. It has provided a platform where people can stay connected always, social media has also provided a fast means of sharing information across the globe, it has also helped in the sharing of ideas among different people. Social media in the field of education has played a major role in helping the teachers and students stay connected. Social media has also helped in bringing people together and raising finances for noble causes. Social media has been widely used by businesses to promote their agendas. Lastly social media also comes with its disadvantages, it has given people the ability of terrorizing others anonymously which is a crime. The advantages of social media in today’s society outweighs the disadvantages, social media is an important tool in the advancement of the society.

References

Betts, L. R. (2016). Cyberbullying: Approaches, Consequences and Interventions.
            London: Palgrave Macmillan UK: Imprint: Palgrave Pivot

Noor, A.-D. H. S., & Hendricks, J. A. (2013). Social media: Usage and impact. Lanham, Md:      Lexington Books.

This is a report that examines income and gender inequality in Thailand. To begin with, the relative status of females is pitiable in most second world nations, compared to first world countries. Rise in per capita income results into advances in diverse interventions of gender equality, signifying existing market failure deterring, or delaying investment in young women within third world nations hence the need to promote development. Nevertheless, gender inequality is a major feminist subject matter, especially in the corporate world. In addition, this report will give in-depth put forward sustainable recommendations in the fight against inequality.

 In Thailand, bias against women takes the form of perception of the ability of women. The society views women as less able compared to their male counterparts. These mentalities originate from their customs and traditional rationality (Paweenawat et.al, 98). The main predicament is old-fashioned societal attitudes aimed at maiming women rights. Unluckily, both women and men believe in the conservative traditions that inhibit equality and growth of women. Addressing gender inequality via particular state policies

 Which exists in the constitution, completely integrated into laws, and assessed for efficiency in order to eradicate gender inequality and nurture equality between both men and women. The daily growth of Thailand’s economy directly influenced the acquisition of education among some young women, elevation to administration positions and female progress in general. Most of the gender inequality research depicts Thailand as nation which mat attains gender parity with more women receiving education (Paweenawat et.al, 101). In addition, studies reveal that women input in labor force and other information show that female employment in third world nations such as Thailand increase with increase in female education. However, as much as women can get an education and compete favorably with men, breaking the glass ceiling is not an easy task for them, hinting at discrimination and bias toward women.

 In spite of Thai females attaining high echelons of schooling, and an increment in the communal and political contribution in the past decade, they still face deep rooted gender oriented discrimination hence hindering them from reaching top most position in political and corporate worlds where they would impact decision making and national policies pertaining gender equality in all the sections (Tikly, and Angeline 121). Whereas men dominance in the nation remains uncontested, women career advancement remains in their own hands or through the formation of women groups that will gather all women and champion their effort toward attaining gender parity.

 The human development report, offers some solid instances of the challenges women face in the nation. One of the challenges is right to their own nationality. Women wedded to outsiders cannot allocate their residency to their partners, even though men who marry foreign women can transfer their nationality to their wives (Dabla-Norris et.al, 78). Secondly, the right to own property. Married women are under their husbands and the hubby has the right to own all property. Thirdly, a husband can hinder his partner from working abroad hence hindering access to new opportunities.

According to Son, (67) there are certain underlying reasons making parents invest in boys’ education than girls. First, it might be that the benefits of educating a woman are less than that of their counterpart males. This is solely applicable if the employment of both men and women are flawed alternates of each other in some tasks, thus women can perform some tasks better than men can. In this particular case, dissimilar quantities of education among young women and men may lead to effectual commercial picks. A second probability for parents investing more in males than female education could be due to the fact that social returns may be the same but parents expect more from their sons than from their daughters hence invest more in boys. For example, sons offer financial assistance to their parents during sunset years while daughters leave and cater to the needs of their family among other responsibilities. Therefore, the gender inequality resulting from education creates market failure as investing in women is a sub optimum. Thirdly, educating women would upset the status quo leading tom changes in the national policies.

 Reasons for Income and Gender Inequality in Thailand

 In Thailand, some of the elements that widen the gender and income gap are the variances in education. Education is a major determinant of income as it dictates rank and the income attached to the position. In this specific case, male inclined to attain higher level of education then specialize in marketable skills such as engineering and corporate world. Apart from level of education, experience takes toll on income among women. Females tend to have a fairly smaller work experience since they arrive and depart from the labor market because of domestic attentions (Paweenawat et.al, 104). In addition, ladies expect shorter or extra intermittent employment lives. Lastly, women may encounter discrimination from professions associated with men hence lowering their investment chances and opportunities. Simply put the field is not level hence; the country cannot attain gender parity that easily without implementing certain national policies.

 Strategies That Will Enable Gender Parity

 The first step is talking to all women. A basic reason for conversing with women is to acquire their own perspectives on the issue and integrate their voice in all the gender strategies whose agenda is narrowing the existing gender parity. No one should formulate gender policies or come up with programmes without involving the input of women. Hence, designing programmes through the voice of women is one of the most effective strategies of implementing. Secondly, ending underage girls from marrying older men and sexual aggravation. In Thailand, early marriages hinder women from accessing education facilities by 10% compared to other challenges (Tikly, and Angeline 130). Teenage women get pregnant and start marriages that hinder their progress in other sectors of life. Before reaching 18 years old, an estimated 30% of women aged between 15 and 19 have more than one child, which impedes progress in other sectors of life for the teenage women. In summary, ending child marriage will enable women complete their education and then acquire skills needed for the job market.

 Recommendations

 In summary, It is a fair simplification stating that societal status of females is pitiable in most third world nations like Thailand compared to first world regions. All people have a role to play in ensuring gender parity in all levels of the community. The United Nations set aside a day for the celebration of women (Paweenawat et.al, 56). The international women day celebrates women’s rights and raises awareness on the plight of women all over the world hence giving people the chance to change their perspectives while at the same time empowering women with knowledge and skills on how to deal with daily female issues. Such a day’s help commemorate and mark the milestone women took to attain gender parity in some sections of the world. In addition, such days help women know their rights and fight for them.

Women should advocate for their own rights and the right to education should be a first priority among women all over the world. According to UNICEF, schooling women not only equips them with information and skills but also enhances decision-making skills hence championing for education is not all there is to female education (Dabla-Norris et.al, 91). Women should receive education that caters them holistically, teaching them to better women, now and in the future. Women should learn how to support each other through the formation of social groups, which caters to their needs and protects them from prejudice. Women working as a team can prevent exploitation and enhance values that protect them against evil vices within the community. Therefore, women themselves can be valuable resources to each other and support each other’s needs and wants.

            Women need not fight for women rights alone, men can join in the fight for gender equality and fight for the rights and privileges of women. More so, men have wives and daughters hence gender inequality would affect them in one way or another (Son 114). Thus, men should pull up their socks and push for national policies that would give a level playing field for both men and women. Men involvement would impact enactment of laws and motivate removal of laws that hinder gender parity. All over the world, government took measures to regulate gender inequality and increasing accessibility to education opportunities for girls. For instance, Lebanon overturned laws that shielded rapists from capital penalty.

Works cited

Dabla-Norris, Ms Era, et al. Causes and consequences of income inequality: A global perspective. International Monetary Fund, 2015.

Paweenawat, Sasiwimon Warunsiri, and Robert McNown. "The determinants of income inequality in Thailand: A synthetic cohort analysis." Journal of Asian Economics 31 (2014): 10-21.

Son, Hyun H. "Occupational segregation and gender discrimination in labor markets: Thailand and Viet Nam." Poverty, Inequality, and Inclusive Growth in Asia: Measurement, Policy Issues, and Country Studies (2011): 409.

Tikly, Leon, and Angeline M. Barrett. "Social justice, capabilities, and the quality of education in low income countries." International Journal of Educational Development 31.1 (2011): 3-14.

Introduction

 Motherhood entails giving birth and raising a child. This procedure alters the manner in which the society and workplace view a mother. Motherhood could require taking more days off hence increasing job security risks. Substantial societal and individual alterations are essential for mothers to manage the situation. An employed mother specifically one with a well-paying profession finds it hard striking a balance between motherhood and professional life (Coontz, 1997). Mother hood is essential and a necessity for the human race all over the world hence the need to come up with strong policies that would enable mothers live a stress free life away from the insecurities of losing a job due to an extended period at home, catering to their young born.

 PART 11

 The society advices women to put on hold their professional life and concentrate on nurturing young children. Doing the contrary would only prove selfish and would affect the lives of the children negatively. In addition, middle class women face a lot of challenges and stereotypes as some people claim that mother is an aspect the women herself got into willingly without any coercion (Coontz, 1997).. Hence, middle class women take their time take in the pressure of motherhood. In the current world mothers work due to years, spend advancing professional careers. Some middle class women get back to work immediately after giving birth because bosses can easily replace them. If these ladies take a break from work for several months, they may lose some bonus packs attached to their salaries hence impeding the growth of their careers. As more ladies join the labor force, and work full time, that is, from nine to five, other caregivers look after the young children. Most mother can employ a baby sitter for their toddlers. The baby sitter takes care of the toddler while the mother is at work and when the mother returns from, she can then assume her motherly roles.

 Consequences of not have having enough policies to protect middle class mothers

Economic

The first consequence is the generation of a gender gap. Women earn less income compared to their men counterparts. Employers tend to prefer men over women who will divide their attention between work and their motherhood responsibilities. In the end, women will earn less than men will. In addition, perceiving women as less productive due to motherhood seem unfair but most of the times entrepreneurs only want a profit but do not consider the effects their work place effects their choices have on the entire community.

 Social consequences

Improving America’s middle class women is one of the top most priorities for an elected leader. A working mother’s income can remains stagnant as she takes a leave to cater for the needs of an infant. In the end, the mother remains with minimal saving for the future hence falls behind socially and economically. In, the end women can lose their job security due to aspects beyond their control.

 Social policies safeguard women from situations or contexts that would adverse

The government failures in the past resulted into social reform movements was very angry and it led to delays in the adoption of the availability of proper social policies. Such arguments continued into the 20th century and continue into the 21st century with a melding of already proven methods; proven to be interactive integrating social sciences, promoting health and applied science (Coontz, 1997). Modern societies in high, medium, and low-income communities within America still face the old scourges of communicable diseases but also the emerging pandemics such as hearing diseases and cancer due to ineffective social policies. The origin and history of public social policies is a dynamic one and has produced on a continuous basis. Emerging social issues such as unemployment have always provided the motivation needed for the increased activities in health and other vital aspects. In the handful of contexts, defeating a social challenge has most of the times removed a barrier to trade or to concentrate on another objective. For example, overcoming yellow fever facilitated coming up with the Panama Canal during the late 1900s and coming up with a cure for scurvy, gave mariners the chance to go on longer voyages hence they explored more so as to come up with effective social policies. It is also very important to note that advances made in the public sector have an overall effect on human race all over the world hence communal health is a combined universal effort.

 Researchers are concentrating on basic human needs and other major diseases like type 2 diabetes in reaction to the present day epidemics that impact social matters and threaten the economic security of people (Coontz, 1997). Attempts made to gain insight and find sustainable solutions for the various community members involve increasing social policies. The study of social policies Within American policies came as a result of trying to stop the spread of infectious diseases. In addition, other than diseases, other social factors or forces have afflicted the family sector. Instances include hygienic movement  in New England during the mid-1800s, general  concern that agitators promote compulsory education for young persons to stop them from undertaking child employment in companies in mid-1800s and maintain economic security through other means than child employment.

Social policies through human rights

In my point of view and fair perspective, the list of human rights is sufficient and effective. Its usefulness and adeptness comes about due to its ability to address immediate needs of a human being. The list gives each person the right to fundamental standards of living   that encompasses good health, security, housing clothing, social services, and employment. More so, mentioning the human rights is equal to recognizing human dignity and giving societies freedom and dignity to fight for their rights. Consequently, acknowledgment and declaration of human rights draws the line and defines wrong and right within a community. In terms of importance, it does not discriminate or give room any form of bias .Thus; the rights are equal across all human races regardless of color. It is important to note that it is not a treaty hence no legal responsibility comes with it.

Public health policy assessment as a mechanism of upgrading social systems in America

Care ethic states that   human relationships   and values that make up the interactions have a moral significance that influences the life of an individual. In other words, relationship affects decision-making and morals of a person rather than set personal principles (Heys, Chapter 2). Whereas a social policy can facilitate and develop better living stands for people, some of experts that suggest that, a good action relies on utility of resources that starts within the family unit. Utility are pleasures that arise after one takes an action. In short, there is nothing wrong with a some people not having economic security. In fact, an action is right or wrong based on the consequences of the action only and even increasing social policies cannot take the blame for bad decision. In short, In terms of ranking, United States ranked dropped and landed in the 18th place. I recent times, government utilizes data to formulate policymaking and creation sound decisions and strategies. Each time happiness ranks drops, it should indicate failure of dealing with societal challenges such as drug abuse and obesity. It is rare not to attain happiness on

References

Coontz, S. (1997). What we really miss about the 1950s. The way we really are: Coming to terms with America’s changing families, 33-50.

 Heys. Chapter 2 Enforcing the work ethic

Grugel, J., & Riggirozzi, P. (2018). New directions in welfare: rights-based social policies in post-neoliberal Latin America. Third World Quarterly, 39(3), 527-543.

Annotated bibliography

Human Development - Childhood development

Tran, T. D., Luchters, S., & Fisher, J. (2017). Early childhood development: impact of

National human development, family poverty, parenting practices and access to

Early childhood education. Child: Care, Health & Development, 43(3), 415–426.

https://doi.org/10.1111/cch.12395

 Tran, Luchtes, & Fisher (2017) review early childhood development and how poverty affects development, especially in low and middle-income countries.  In the article, the authors state that several domains in childhood development are the predictors of health and productivity. However, about 200 million children do not achieve their developmental potential due to poverty that causes child under-nutrition, micronutrients deficiency, infectious diseases and more.  The authors derive information on poverty effects on child-development from The Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) and finds that early childhood education and quality care for children are associated with positive outcomes in child development. However, children in countries with low human development index (HDI) have poor childhood development due to lack of quality care, use of harsh punishments, and lack of education programmes.  Thus, the article recommends that to improve childhood development, the governments, non-government organizations, and other stakeholders should work together to alleviate poverty in low-HDI countries and support childhood development.

Henry, K. L., Fulco, C. J., & Merrick, M. T. (2018). The Harmful Effect of Child

Maltreatment on Economic Outcomes in Adulthood. American Journal of Public

Health, 108(9), 1134–1141.

https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2018.304635

Henry, Fulco, & Merrick (2018) review the childhood development and how the child maltreatment affects adulthood.  Early childhood development is an important stage that determines the future of an individual.  The authors state that one thing that can affect adulthood is trauma as it brings long-term health effects such as depression, stress, risky sexual behaviors, substance abuse and more.  The authors used a cascade model to examine the effects of child maltreatment on depression, substance use, financial strains and lack of educational attainment during adulthood.  The authors derived data from longitudinal cohort studies and found that children who experienced maltreatment during early childhood suffered from financial strains through adolescence, adulthood, and parenthood.  Thus, there should be intervention, evidence-based policies, and preventive strategies to support families so that parents can alleviate stress, and access resources that will enable them to create a nurturing relationship. 

Savage-McGlynn, E., Redshaw, M., Heron, J., Stein, A., Quigley, M. A., Evans, J., … Gray,

1. (2015). Mechanisms of Resilience in Children of Mothers Who Self-Report with

Depressive Symptoms in the First Postnatal Year. PLoS ONE, 10(11), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0142898

Savag-McGlynn et al (2015) review the childhood development and how children whose parents had depressive symptoms develop resilience.  The authors assert that after birth, about 10-15 mothers experience depression and children to these parents are at high-risk outcomes in social and cognitive development. Remarkably, the children whose parents suffer from postnatal depression will achieve positive developmental outcomes or in other words, the children will show resilience later in life.  The authors derived data and information from a longitudinal cohort study to examine the mechanism of resilience and they found that children are able to develop resilience through mother's positive perspective and positive parenting behaviors such as parent-child interactions, parent-infant relationship, parent-child attachment among other interventions that enable children to develop resilience, and coping responses.

Lyons, R., & Roulstone, S. (2018). Well-Being and Resilience in Children With Speech and

Language Disorders. Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research, 61(2), 324–

https://doi.org/10.1044/2017pass:[_]JSLHR-L-16-0391

 The purpose of this study was to examine whether children with a communication disorder and in specific language and speech impairment have a compromised psychological and emotional well-being. The authors state that during childhood development, 7% to 12% of children suffer from communication disorders and this is a long-term condition that affects the child's well-being. The authors used the methodology of narrative inquiry and conducted qualitative research. They also used a sampling strategy and employed 11 participants aged 9 and 12 years with specific language disorder. The study reported that children with communication disorder experienced lack of social wellness, lack of peer relationships, exclusion, developed feeling of sadness, and poor academic achievement. However, they were able to develop resilience through being hopeful, they acted as agents of their lives and developed a sense of purpose. They also built a positive relationship and engaged in a support system where they promoted resilience.  In future research, the researchers should not use the narrative inquiry because they relied on the life stories and accounts but rather they should use a systematic strategy. 

Mollborn, S., Lawrence, E., & Root, E. D. (2018). Residential Mobility Across Early Childhood and

Children’s Kindergarten Readiness. Demography, 55(2), 485–510.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-018-0652-0

Mollborn, Lawrence & Root (2018) review the childhood development and the effects of residential mobility in development. The authors assert that   73% of children born in 2001 in the U.S changed residence.  Early childhood requires stability and the article finds that residential mobility has consequences that affect the health well-being, social-economic status, social-emotional status, and academic performance in later life.  The authors used a longitudinal cohort study and the theatrical perspective was that the residential move and change of environment may lead to instability in development and health in later life. The study reported that residential mobility during early childhood development is associated with developmental implications such as negative behavioral outcomes, lack of parent-child relationships, and disruption of family processes.  In the future, it is also important to research what motivates residential mobility and the consequences in other life stages.

Goemans, A., Geel, M. van, & Vedder, P. (2018). Foster children’s behavioral development

and foster parent stress: testing a transactional model. Journal of Child & Family

Studies, 27(3), 990–

1001. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-017-0941-z

The purpose of the study is to analyze the foster children behavior during development as influenced by the foster parent stress. Goemans, feel, & Vedder (2018) asserts that foster parent stress affects child behavioral development. Children are kept in foster care due to a number of reasons such as parental neglect and abuse. As they enter in the foster care, they no longer experience biological bond and the breach of attachment creates a negativity between the foster parents and foster children and as a result, the child's behavioral development is affected, and the higher the behavioral problems the higher the level of parent foster stress.  The authors used a transactional model to understand the dynamic process that influences the child's development.  The participants were 237 foster parents,   foster children 237 foster children, and foster care agencies. The results showed that foster parents stress led to foster children behavioral problem. In the future, the researchers should replicate the study by including children's perspectives and other informants rather than relying on foster parents perspectives alone.

Cummings, K., Addante, S., Swindell, J., & Meadan, H. (2017). Creating Supportive

Environments for Children Who have had Exposure to Traumatic Events. Journal

of Child & Family Studies, 26(10), 2728–2741. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-017-0774-9

 The purpose of the study is to interview the community-based service providers on   trauma-related concerns and their perceptions on the best practices, knowledge, and skills that early childhood teachers should use to support children who experienced traumatic events. The authors base their research on the idea that during early childhood development, children experience traumatic events and as a result, they suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder, functional impairments and other symptoms. The participants in the study were 14 social workers who worked with children 0-5 years who experienced traumatic events. The social workers presented work experiences in early childhood mental health through an open-ended questionnaire.  In specific, the participants reported the traumatic events that children encounter, the behavior and emotions they presents and the approaches that teachers can implement in the classroom to support the children.  In future research, the researchers should not derive information from non-teaching professionals but rather they should review the teachers' attitude toward emotional development and should also review the resources needed in early childhood settings.

Iacona, J., & Johnson, S. (2018). Neurobiology of Trauma and Mindfulness for

Children. Journal of Trauma Nursing, 25(3), 187-191.

            The purpose of this article is to provide an evidence-based practice to promote healthy coping mechanism and resiliency in children with adverse child experiences (ACEs).  In their research, the authors find that 60% of adults experience adverse child experience during childhood. The article states that to help children who experience a traumatic event, the care and service providers should understand the neurobiology. In other words, they should understand that children who have undergone trauma, their brain undergo a neurochemical change and a result, the child develop behavioral problems that make adults become frustrated. Thus, the care providers should have knowledge about the internal neurobiology so that they can understand the external actions and provide them with appropriate care in a supportive manner.  Theory should also practice mindfulness so that that they can become aware of the behaviors and actions of the present moment and regulate emotions appropriately. 

The Child Welfare

Introduction

             Child welfare is a field that provides services to nurture the well-being of the children by ensuring permanency, safety and nourishing families to enable them care for their children successfully. The child welfare has the powers to breakdown the families and to protect them at the same time. This brings into sense the fact that the family is both the subject of material privacy and sentimental and also the subject of public policy. Child welfare was a part of social work, a field that specialized in implementation of skills and values of social work. However, child welfare started to move its focus to children and families’ welfare and social work has began to focus on social justice. The early child welfare practitioners were concerned with educating children about productive and religious work hence keeping them busy and saving them from destruction (Shireman, 2015). There was the rise of Child Rescue Movement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and the child protective societies which were private sectors and were initiated to protect children from abuse. Social work also began in the 1900s which contributed to development of an idea concerning the possibility of supporting the families and children and the idea was formulated by Children Rescue Movement. The field specialized with the goal of protecting the children. 

Functions of Social workers in the Field of Child Welfare

            Social workers in the field of child welfare are involved in carrying out investigations concerning cases of child abuse or neglects and formulate decisions of whether the children should continue living with their biological parents or in state custody in order to protect them from any kind of harm. The social workers take appropriate steps within a short time depending on the reported maltreatment, the extent of the case and what is required under the state of law. They may talk to the parents and also may talk to the children alone or in presence of the significant caregivers depending on the level of risk and the age of the child. The social workers may move an endangered child to a safe place like to relatives or foster care as investigations proceed. The main agenda during the investigation is to determine whether there was occurrence of abuse or negligence and the risk of reoccurrence of the incidence (Petr, 2004). They finally come up with two types of results; one is unsubstantiated which means the workers lacked sufficient evidence to prove that there was child abuse or negligence. The other finding is substantiated meaning that there was occurrence of child abuse or negligence case. The child welfare agency immediately begins the court action if it realizes that the juvenile court authority is essential to offer the safety of the child.

            The social workers form models which help to solve crisis, offer protection to the children enhance family bonds are maintained and strengthened, impact more knowledge to family members and enhance the utilization of the available formal and informal support and services. Intensive Family Preservation Services is an example of the models which was formed in 1990. It works under several basic theories (Petr, 2004). The first one is the family systems theory which claims that regardless of the existence of different theories of family systems, they all focus on the family and not the child alone. The focus can be on interaction and communication among the members of the family, power relationships, boundaries which are subsistence or as family functioning aspect. The other theoretical base is social learning theory which is applied to individual young ones initially. The theory focuses on the interactions of the families that reward or punish behaviors regarded to be competent. The social workers who might chose to apply this theory might closely focus on parental training where they teach the parents’ issues concerning communication and disciplinary skills which are highly effective or might also focus on teaching the teenagers and the parents about effective skills to use in negotiation. The workers mainly focus on how behaviors are learnt and helping the families to learn the new behaviors.  The other theory is the ecological theory which the social workers apply when they want to participate in helping the families to get the required n order to achieve an environment which is safe and healthy. The workers participate directly in order to help the families achieve the required resources.

Job Opportunities in Child Welfare Field

Foster Care and Adoption Caseworker

            The workers are mainly involved in training and recruiting the people who decide to adopt children. This job is very important as the issue of taking care of children who have been neglected appears quite challenging. They are also responsible for joining children with their biological families depending on the definition of the responsibilities (Ritter, 2014). New programs have been initiated to take care of the kinship families formed when relatives make a decision of adopting the children. The main prospective of this job is to ensure that the child finally gets a happy ending and that the child is placed in a home for adoption. Some of the responsibilities of the caseworkers in child health include assessment of the case and documentation, carrying out supervisory visits between the parents and the children, organizing the services that are needed by the children and the parents, carrying out examination activities on children to determine neglect and abuse, transporting the parents and the children to the needed opportunities and services, attending the proceedings of the court, collaborating with other significant professions, updating the supervisors on concerns about the progress of the case and planning the case for parents and children.

Careers in Child Welfare Research

            The workers in this job opportunity are mainly interested in carrying out research to bring better understanding of the child abuse and the appropriate ways to intervene with families and children. This ensures that there is enough evidence in the interventions used in the child abuse (Ritter, 2014). Research enables to get answers to various questions like: Why are children abused? What type of families and children are at risk of getting child abuse experiences? What are the most appropriate methods of dealing with the abusive parents? Why color children are mostly represented in the foster care system? What number of children goes through disruptions during adoption? What are the long-term impacts of the young generation who are brought up in foster care system? The social workers are mostly interested in carrying out research for universities, non-profit research organizations or the government.

            Child Welfare Advocate

            The main task of the social workers in advocacy is to offer education to the public concerning the issues of children. They are also involved in inducing passage of legislation by the legislators to the local as well as the national levels that would be of benefit to children as well as their families (Ritter, 2014). Recently, the advocates have been able to manage offering of funds to the grandparents who are raising their grandchildren, the children who emancipate from the system of child welfare and adoption subsidies for those parents who happen to adopt disabled children.

            Substitute Care Caseworker

            The caseworkers mainly work with the family when the child has been taken away from home. The case is transferred to the substitute caseworker by the Child Protective Services after they take the child away from home. The caseworkers try to offer the required resources to the families hoping that there will be rehabilitation of the family later on (Ritter, 2014). They are also responsible in searching for homes to shelter the children ensuring that medical, recreational and therapeutic needs are properly met. In case the re-unification of the family is impossible, it is the obligation of the caseworker to find a permanent home to shelter the child. The process may include placing the child with relatives who will take care of the child permanently, a person who is a friend to the family or taking a step of family rights termination and keeping the child ready for legal adoption.

Protective Child Services Investigator

            The investigator communicates to the child, parents and other people who have information concerning the family so as to carry out assessment concerning the functioning of the family (Ritter, 2014).  They also assess the risks of the child and bring out determination concerning if truly the child was neglected or abused. The investigators usually work with families enabling them to achieve the services available in the community. They may also offer eligible cases to the preservation unit of the family.

Family Preservation Caseworker

            The caseworkers in this job opportunity protect the child from being removed from home by providing the services that are needed to prevent child abuse. The services may include: home visits, parental counseling as well as children counseling, financial planning, educating the parents and treatment of substance abuse (Ritter, 2014). The Child Protective Services has an obligation to provide more prevention services and to unify the families and ensure that the state does not take over the custody of the children.

Issues and Concerns of Social Workers in Child Welfare

Communication

            Many families have been reporting that they have been undergoing through total trauma in the course of their encounters with the social workers. The experience has been leading to loss of confidence by the parents concerning their parenthood, low self-esteem among the parents and reduction of trust in all the known professions. Studies have outlined that regardless of the presence of supporters and observers; still the parental behavior representation is replicated (Great Britain & Great Britain, 2009). A number of families are suggesting that change over this issue should be considered. This is because the change important in the level of communication between the parents and the social workers as it is a part of the images being presented before the court which is used to assess if the social workers have allowed the parents to keep their children. In case any defect is noticed in the court, the parents are the ones to blame which is wrong since defect is supposed to be implicated unto both parties. Research done shown that the social workers have been to applying communication which is very confrontational. There has been forwarding of the issue of attention insufficiency to micro-skills concerning the social workers towards the parents. The micro-skills are usually involved in protecting the children and it is considered as a priority to be dealt with in future.  However, it is of no need for the social workers to improve their communication skills so long as they are going to continue working with the corrupt environment that strongly offer reward and show high level of support to dishonesty cases.

            There is an issue of insufficiency of communication skills in talking and making observations on the children.  The parents as well as the big children have been criticizing the social workers because of this incidence (Great Britain & Great Britain, 2009). This has been turning out as a great concern as the social workers are supposed to listen and collect information concerning the ideas of the children. They are also supposed to assess the parents using the expected communication skills which they totally lack. It is being suggested that in order to improve this issue, video assessment to be applied in the interactions with the consent of the clients. The assessment done is then supposed to be discussed and reported in presence of practitioner to the experts.

Intellectual Standards

            There is an issue of narrow evidence which has been in use by the social workers and has been interfering with vivid results. The evidence is also not correct due to dishonesty or reporting errors. This issue is alarming because the same errors that have been contributing towards the death of children are the same errors which related to the accusation of the parents by the social workers and the parents finally lose their children (Great Britain & Great Britain, 2009). The parents are having a strong believe that usage of narrow evidence has significantly been contributing to the negative impacts like the death of their children. They are saying that the inadequate reasoning and training to the social workers has both contributed to the cases of criticisms

Literature Review

            In the late 1900s, there was initiation of non-profit societies which took responsibilities for protecting children from cruelty. In the year, 1912 the children’s’ bureau was established after White House Conference on care of dependent children. The federal government took responsibility of child welfare in the era of the New Deal (Brittain, & Hunt, 2004). The Pediatric radiologists started dealing with the issues of child abuse in early 1946. In the year 1966, mandatory laws were passed by 49 states obligating given professionals to join in issues regarding children so as to be reporting maltreatment or abuse of the children to public departments. The recognition of this issue by the federal led to organization of a congress that passed public law, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act.

            Social workers in the field of child health are responsible in ensuring the security of children. Sometimes they are criticized while trying to help the children. They are supposed to remove the mistreated child from the home within the shortest period possible hence they have to make immediate sound decisions. They are usually feeling that if they leave the child and then the child is killed, they will end up feeling guilty (Myers, 2006). The moment they remove the child from home they end being blamed for separating the child from the biological parents. The social workers are also involved in separating the abused and the children who are not maltreated. There are various job opportunities in the field of child health among them being social workers, police officers, juvenile court judges, attorneys, physicians, mental health worker and nurses. The professions usually put efforts to take offer the families and the children.

            The issue of poor communication has been outlined by historical studies as a concern that is highly affecting results of investigations. It has been contributing towards fewer alternative actions and has been leading to inadequate assessment of their potential implications (Zastrow, 2009). The people have been claiming that the cause of poor communication is due to insufficiency of skills in communication or because others have been withholding information in order to manipulate their colleagues. There is also a thought that conflicts among the social workers are also contributing towards poor communication. The need for a much simpler way of offering protection to children during emergencies by the social workers is also another issue. Historical studies have shown that there are risks of separating the children from their biological parents when the social workers take them from home (Masson, McGovern, Pick & Winn, 2007). The grounds in which the children are removed from their homes are not clear. There is a suggestion that the new Emergency Protection Order to provide genuine protective ways for children and that the workers be allowed to reflect much on the cases to avoid narrow evidence. It is rejecting the average period of 72 hours which is taken before the case is taken to the court and is proposing that the period be maximized to eight days in order for the social workers of the agency to have gained enough evidence.

Conclusion

            The aim of the child welfare is to promote permanency, safety and wellbeing of the children and the families. It also has a goal to ensure that the children who stay in the foster care are able to leave the child welfare system safely under the care of their biological parents, relatives or the foster home caregivers. The responsibilities of the social workers include: investigating cases of child abuse or children who have been neglected, making decisions if the children should continue living with their parents and participation in adoption process. It is also involved in organizing places safe for permanent stay for the children who will not go back to their biological homes, ensuring that there is availability of resources required by the parents and formulation of models that can enhance protection of the children. There are several job opportunities in the field of child health among them being family preservation caseworker, Protective Child Services investigator, substitute care caseworker, child welfare advocate and careers in child welfare research. Communication is an issue that parents as well as children are raising concerning the social workers recommending that there is need to improve in terms of communication skills. The parents are also raising another issue concerning narrow information being in use by the social workers while collecting information. The parents are saying that the narrow information has been readily contributing towards many negative evidences as it is usually containing numerous errors. There are suggestions that insufficient training and reasoning by the social workers has been greatly contributing to the collection of narrow information.

Reference

Brittain, C., & Hunt, D. E. (2004). Helping in child protective services: A competency-based casework          handbook. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Great Britain & Great Britain. (2009). Training of children and families social workers: Seventh report of session 2008-09. London: Stationery Office.

Masson, J. M., McGovern, D., Pick, K., & Winn, O. M. (2007). Protecting powers: Emergency intervention for children's protection. Chichester, England: J. Wiley & Sons.

Myers, J. E. B. (2006). Child protection in America: Past, present, and future. New York: Oxford University                Press.

Petr, C. G. (2004). Social work with children and their families: Pragmatic foundations. Oxford:             Oxford University Press.

Ritter, J. A. (2014). 101 careers in social work. Springer Publishing Company.

Shireman, J. F. (2015). Critical issues in child welfare. Columbia University Press. New York.

Zastrow, C. (2009). Social work with groups: A comprehensive workbook. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Substance abuse/substance abuse disorder

 Substance abuse differs from substance use disorder in that the former is the use of both legal and illegal substances in inappropriate situations for recreation. These substances include alcohol, tobacco, heroin, cocaine, marijuana, depressants, hallucinogens, and others (MCLELLAN, 2017). These substances are widely used and cause health and social problems.  On the other hand, substance use disorder occurs when the users abuse the substances at high frequencies. They not only suffer from asymptomatic conditions but they also suffer from a diagnosable illness that requires special treatment (MCLELLAN, 2017). The severe and chronic condition that requires treatment is substance use disorder.

 An example to illustrate a substance use disorder

  Substance use disorder is associated with tolerance and withdrawal symptoms such as anxiety, lack of behavioral control, use of a large amount of substance, irritability, depression, low self-esteem, fatigue, frequency use despite worse psychological problems, and lack of commitment to important activities (MCLELLAN, 2017). It is important to understand that an individual may be using drugs but not addicted to them. However, when one meets these criteria (mental and behavioral symptoms) he or she suffers from substance abuse disorder.  It is so easy to detect if someone has substance abuse disorder through evaluating factors  like negative feelings, increased tolerance,  loss of motivation, behavioral changes, suicidal thoughts and more (MCLELLAN, 2017).

Article summary and personal reaction

 In his article, Carpenter (2001) says that drug abuse affects cognitive functions. The reason as to why drug abusers find it hard to stop abusing drugs is because the drugs affect the brain's frontal cortex- a part that helps individual regulate cognitive behaviors and activities such as problem-solving and decision-making (Carpenter, 2001). Drugs also affect the brain's dopamine system which has motivational components. In general, individuals who are drug addicts have decision-making impairments because the frontal cortex has been damaged. Thus, interventions should be based on examining the drug abusers' brain using imaging techniques to help the users quit (Carpenter, 2001).

 According to my personal opinion, drug abusers do not always take the drug for pleasure. The reason` as to why they are unable to quit is due to frontal cortex damage that controls the cognitive activities and lack of dopamine functions that enables to regulate emotions (Carpenter, 2001). To ensure treatment effectiveness, I think it would be important if an examination of the frontal cortex activation is done and also measure the brain responses.

References

Carpenter Siri. (2001). Cognition is central to drug addiction.  America Psychological

Association.

MCLELLAN, A. T. (2017). Substance Misuse and Substance use Disorders: Why do they Matter

in Healthcare?. Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological

Association, 128, 112.

Children with Imaginary Friends Develop To Adults with Enthusiasm for ‘Fantasy Activities’

Among the various stages of human development, childhood is the most distinct and abundant stage which is filled with cognitive, emotional and many physical changes. This is the stage in life when the human life, its innocence its wonders and its imaginations are flourishing thus making the stage very delicate. Many of the things that are learned at this stage are the ones that shape the type of an individual that one will become and the life path that one will follow. This can hence be described to be the most important stage in human life, since it is what literary determines the afterlife of that individual. Imaginary friends is an important element in the course of a child development, most people while at this is stage develop an imaginary friend whom they spend time with. Having these imaginary friends shapes the kind of an individual that the child becomes, with most of them having a special liking for fantasy activities and the imagination world a good illustration being the fiction writers.

The play stage in childhood is an important stage in life that must be passed in order for an individual to reach full development. This is that stage in a child’s life when she or he learns to role play and this means taking the identities of other people and pretending to be them. This a development stage that allows the children to assume the role of another individual and assume them as their own, trying to assume and foresee what that person that she is impersonating would do in various situations that she or he is faced with (Trionfi & Elaine, p. 1). During this stage, there are very many development activities that happen and one of them includes acquirement of abilities, development of understanding of roles, the capability to assume the status of other people, the sharpened sense of an individual as an entity and the ability to establish boundaries within that role. This can be defined as the development stage when the child discovers and expands insights of themselves and the other people around them. During this time, the child can learn and also increase their understanding of the entire universe and this includes themselves.

This development of a generalized other and the obtainance of a sense of roles and boundaries is something that is very important in helping the child to become an individual that is important in the society. Children do not always follow the presumed rules of socialization, asserting one’s autonomy is one way of establishing their independence and separation from the others. This is where the imaginary friends become important components in serving this role. The imaginary friends can be described to be a good example of a private act of fantasy that is controlled by the child on its own (Taylor, p. 5). The imaginary friend just as the name suggests is an imagination, so this is not an individual that can be seen or touched, it belongs solely to the owner because this is their fantasy. The imaginary friends are important elements of development for a child in that it helps in creating the feelings of importance, confidence, power and this could also lead to a greater acceptance of self by the child. The imaginary friend can best be described as the first action of independence that separates the child from the mother or its primary care taker.

Children with the imaginary friends are more confident as opposed to the ones without and they hence gets to be bosses, they can direct their activities as well as direct and dictate their communication with other people. Having an imaginary friend for the child opens up the element of the imaginary dialogue, the child has to often communicate which greatly helps in improving her dialogue as well as her communication skills (Trionfi & Elaine, p. 2). This frequent communication between the child and the friend can also best be described as decontextualization, whereby the child is forced to come up with various real life roles that she or he has to play with her imagined friend.  This makes them better individuals because their social interaction skills are better as compared to the ones that do not have imaginative friends. Taylor (p. 9) illustrates that when the children lose their sense of control on the imaginary friends, they disappear. This hence suggests that the interaction with the imaginary friends helps the child to exercise his or her autonomy and develop more individual interaction skills.

Imaginary friends have great effects on the children that have them and also to the adults that had them when they were young. As earlier illustrated, imaginary friends is a world of fantasy. The child creates them, in order to have someone that she or he can play with when they are alone thus commonly acting as a form of comfort (Trionfi & Elaine, p. 1). The creation of the imaginary friend by the child is an evidence of the love for fantasy by that child which is a trait that passed on to his or her adulthood. Most of the children that have imaginary friends grow up to be adults with a liking for fantasy activities that includes watching movies, reading and writing novels among other fantasy activities. As supported by the study of, most the writers that are there today are people that had an imaginary friend when they were children and a percentage of them still have these imaginary friends (Taylor et al., p. 17).

Fiction writing is based on imagination, everything that the writer comes up with is a few concepts that no other person have created. Though the themes of their work may be motivated by things happening around them, the direction and plot that the story takes is all based on the imagination of the writer. These fiction works often include fantasy relationships which is why they mostly attract people that most likely had imaginary friends when they were young. The adults do not have the luxury of having imaginary friends because of the perception that the society has on the issue. Having imaginary friends as an adult is always associated with mental illness and so most people will try to avoid such contacts (Taylor, p. 6 ). Because of this, most of the people that love engaging in fantasy activities hence seek comfort in watching movies, reading and writing of novels.

Their love for imagination is something that cannot be satisfied through creation of their own play characters like they did as children because they are afraid that they may get labelled as people with mental illness.  They hence enjoy this creativity through creation of their own characters in their fiction works, where they have the power to create any form of character that they like without any judgements from the society. Others enjoy the concept of imaginations through reading, watching and engaging in many other activities that have been created through imagination.

 In the films, other people take the various roles and they have to change their own character to take on the new character in the film and this is what involves role playing. This love for fantasy by the adults can also be referenced as a strategy of helping them deal with chaotic and difficult life situations. The fantasy activities provides a sense of comfort for these individual ad it generally helps them forget their problems for a while as they become engaged in the imaginative world. This is where the concept of illusion of independent agency (IIA) comes in. when people start watching film or reading a book, they get s engaged into the events of these works that they forget everything that is happening around them (Taylor et al., p. 13). The fictional writers are always so engaged in their work as they create their own imaginative world, that they forget everything else in their world which is the same thing that happens with children when they are role playing with their imaginative friends. Basically every fantasy activity can be described as an unconscious experience that shifts an individual from the real world to the fantasy world (Taylor et al., p. 14).

Everyone that is attracted to the imaginative world is someone whose love for imagination started out when they were young. This means that these are people who had imaginative friends when they were young. An imaginative friend is someone as earlier indicated that is created by the child with her own creativity to make her world fun and interesting. When these children grow up, their skills of creativity are still very valid and most of them choose to explore it through the world of fiction, employing every element that they learnt. These are the people that choose to get engaged in occupations that involves imaginations and this includes, writing, film careers and many other careers that involve the creation of imaginative characters. Their experiences as children with the imaginative friends and the skills that they learn, sets a path for them where they explore imagination at another greater level.

Works cited

Taylor, Marjorie. Chapter 7: ‘Do Oldre Children and Adults Create Imaginary Companions?’

Imaginary Companions and the Children Who Create Them. New York: Oxford UP, 1999

Taylor, Marjolie, Sara D. Hodges and Adele Kohanyi. ‘The Illusion of Independent Agency:

Do Adult Fiction Writers Experience their characters as Having Minds of Their Own?’ Imagination, Cognition And Personality, Vol. 22(4): 2002-2003.

Trionfi, Gabriel and Elaine Reese. ‘A good Story: Children With Imaginary Companions

Create Richer Narrative.’’ Child Development. Volume 80, Number 4: July/August 2009.

Culturally diverse workplace

            Health organization have to take consideration of the various cultural differences when treating patients in order to ensure that decisions made meet the interests of both the patient and the organization. According to a research conducted by Neal (2009), organizations can influence the way people from different cultures interact with one another. In an attempt to try and improve Arab-Expatriate relationships, organizations in the gulf region sought alternative way to try and create appositive working environment despite the hostility that existed among employees due to the difference in their cultural backgrounds. The study by Neal (2009) revealed that, while hostilities are common among people from diverse backgrounds, it is possible to neutralize the differences that bring about conflict and create a positive working environment. The success of the study can be used to mirror the challenges that exist for nurse managers and what can be done to work around the ethical issues that exist in the medical profession due to the difference in people’s culture.

            The healthcare industry is ranked second after the hotel and catering industry as the professions with the most ethnically diverse industries. This means that professionals such as nurses have to handle both patients and fellow employees from different ethnicities and it greatly contributes to the high number of ethical issues raised in the industry (Forbes, 2012).the diverse nature of the healthcare industry means that nurses and medical caregivers have to greatly consider the preferences, life choices and appropriate treatment methods acceptable to patients (Forbes, 2012). Other than taking in the patient’s culture, medical professionals must also ensure that the decisions they make are in line with the organizational culture and this often creates challenges especially when fast ethical decisions are required. 

            The challenges caused by cultural diversity especially in the healthcare industry have lea to the implementation of various policies aimed at improving the quality of health while still helping medical professionals make ethical decisions (Bainebridge et al, 2018). Although medical caregivers receive training to improve their cultural competence, skills and behavior, there is still the need to come up with more effective ways to help overcome the challenges that make it difficult to make ethical decisions especially for nurse managers. Training on intervention strategies and cultural competence for instance were proven to increase caregivers’ knowledge, skills and positive attitudes when dealing with culturally diverse patients (Bainebridge et al, 2018). The right kind of training can therefore make nurses and other caregivers better equipped to handle the challenges that exist in the healthcare industry.

            Professions in the medical field are tasked with the responsibility of finding a balance between the different values, customs and traditions for both the organization they work under as well as the patients placed under their care. Since organizations have a corporate social responsibility, nurses have to offer the best quality of care but still respect the patient’s customs and traditions (Escrich & Lozano, 2017). In cases where a patient’s culture prevents him from getting a specific type of treatment or drug, caregivers have to come up with a way to help the patient without overlooking the patient’s cultural beliefs as well as their right to the best medical care. To achieve this balance, there is the need for caregivers to respect, rather than tolerate, their patient’s traditions and customs (Escrich & Lozano, 2017). Instead of only focusing on the organizational culture as the best approach, caregivers should treat the patient’s beliefs with the same level of seriousness they do for the organization’s culture. Respecting the patient’s cultural differences can help reduce the challenges brought about by cultural diversities and in doing so, operate in an ethical way.

            The challenges involved when making ethical decision especially for nursing managers is further complicated by the fact that bringing about change often requires crossing boundaries and changing systems that have existed for so long that they are now considered a norm. Bridging the gap between organizational culture and a people’s culture is made difficult by the fact that people are less willing to sacrifice their beliefs even when the organizational culture has the patient’s best interest at heart (Dickson et al, 2011). Being a sensitive issue, there is need for caution when trying to find a balance between giving medical assistance and respecting a patient’s wishes even if they endanger their overall health especially when such decisions are influenced by cultural beliefs. There is therefore the need for more studies on how organizations can go about advising and helping people especially when the decision requires consideration of the individual’s cultural beliefs.

            Health institutions could have a major impact in helping nurse managers and other caregivers make ethical decisions even in the diverse nature of the environment they work in. The attitudes and opinions that employees have regarding ethics and culture is greatly influenced by the image created by the organization with reference to issues like diversity and the importance of people’s culture (Bosch et al, 2018). Organizations must therefore hold the employee and customer customs and traditions in high regard as a way of leading by example. If health institutions take diversity seriously, the same will be passed down to employees who will develop a culture of helping patients and still observing the restrictions set by their cultural practices (Bosch et al, 2018). It is therefore the responsibility of the organization to ensure that all employees are aware of their responsibilities and that differences in culture are not a hindrance to offering good quality medical care.

            Since nurse managers are responsible for both patients and employees, they are tasked with the hardest task of making ethical decisions that are in line with the organizational culture but do not infringe upon the patients and employee’s customs and traditions (Aitamaa et al, 2016). They must therefore be trained to handle the ethical responsibility of ensuring that diversity does not affect the quality of care provided by medical professionals within the organization. Caregivers also need to be considered to ensure that the duties expected of them do not push them to acts prohibited by their culture.

            While most research focuses on the benefits of respecting patient’s customs and traditions when making ethical decisions, Chattopadhyay and Vries (2012) are of the opinion that observing culture when making ethical decisions could have a negative impact on the decisions made. They make the argument that the morality of the decisions made should be measured on a universal scale rather than in accordance with a people’s culture. In the field of medicine, consideration should only be given to what has been approved as the ethical code of conduct for doctors, nurses and other caregivers without placing a lot of emphasis on culture (Chattopadhyay & Vries, 2012). While it is important to abide to the international code of ethics, a people’s culture can greatly help in making ethical decisions especially when treating patients deeply rooted in their culture. It is therefore important for organizations and employees to find a balance between organizational culture and people’s cultural beliefs when making ethical decisions.

References

Bainbridge R, Jongen C, and McCalman J, (2018) “Health workforce cultural competency             interventions: A systematic scoping review” BMC Health Services Research

Bosch L, Byun S, Rabl T and Triana M, (2018), “Diversity management efforts as an ethical             responsibility: How employees’ perception of an organizational integration and     learning approach to diversity affects employee behavior” Journal of Business Ethics

Chattopadhyay S and Vries R, (2012), “Respect for cultural diversity in bioethics in an ethical     imperative” Med Health Care Philosophies

Dickson M, Keating M, Kwan H, Martin G, and Peng C, (2011) “What ethical leadership means to me: Asian American and European perspectives” Journal of Business Ethics

Eitama E, Kilpi H and Suhonen S, (2016) “Ethical problems in nursing management: The views of nurse managers” Nursing Ethics

Escrich Tand Lozano F, (2017) “Cultural diversity in business: A critical reflection on the            ideology of tolerance” J Bus Ethics

Forbes, (2012) “Diversity and inclusion: Unlocking global potential”

Neal M, (2009) “When Arab-Expatriate relations work well” Eastern Institute of Technology,      Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand

Introduction

The existing concepts of victimization created ample body of empirical study, generally recorded within the last twenty years (Reyns, 2013, 103). Two of the most commonly recognized standpoints, life experience, and repetitive actions concepts have always stood out in terms of rational thinking and empirical analysis. However, the maturation of theories of victimization meets the same serious impediments as other concepts of criminality. These include insufficient attention to dissimilarity in terms of form of crime, grouped thinking, and poor connectivity between concepts and findings. Thus, victimization ideals are widely known in the criminological fields. This paper will discuss CJ’s victimization from a lifestyle theory perspective.

The Concept of Victim Precipitation Theory

Just like any other criminology theories, victim precipitation entails underlying reasons that push one into crime. Although most ideas center on actions and objectives of the perpetrators, victim precipitation pursues insight pertaining the interaction between the target and the perpetrator of the crime (Pratt, and Turanovic , 2016, 54). Underneath this concept, the target contributes to the crime as much as the perpetrator. For instance, in the case of CJ, he hangs around gang members thus contributing to his state of hospitalization. The victim becomes an active contributor in the criminality: first, when the victim takes part in the crime and secondly, when the victim incites the lawbreaker hence pushing the individual to carry out the criminality. These are the two aspects of the victim precipitation principle. For example, the gang, which CJ is part of, provokes a rival gang leading to a violent altercation on both sides and CJ ends up in hospital due to bodily harm. In this context, CJ is an active participant in the crime as he and other gang members provoke the rival gang into the violent dispute.

The opening systematic research on victim participation in criminal activity took place in late 1950s by Wolfgang. He was the first researcher to look at crime from both sides of the spectrum, victim precipitation in the process coining the term, ‘victim precipitation’. During the early years of his studies, Marvin Wolfgang became a famous descriptor for all conventional contact destructive criminalities such as murder and rape (Turanovic, and Pratt, 2014, 108). Application of homicide to aspects of victim precipitation restricts the theory to cases in which the victim starts a physical squabble against the perpetrator or murderer. In addition, according to the theory of victim precipitation, in case of intensified battering, sly language or gesticulations are under infuriating activities.

 In other words, victim precipitation muggings includes circumstances where the target operated without considering his or her own self-protection while handling his or her own finances or any other valuable items (Van et.al, 2018, 68). Also, the theory applies to rape; when an individual gives the perpetrator consent then changes their mind later or invites the perpetrator verbally or using gesticulations but withdraws their consent before the actual act. In the case of CJ, he does not consider his self-protection before attacking the rival gang, hence sustains grievous injuries after the fight. In each of the applications mentioned above, there is a clear timeline as the events melt down from victims initiating some sort of action resulting to corresponding victimization.

Past researches, utilizing law enforcement reports unveiled some degree of victim participation in most of the crimes taking place on a daily basis. The level of victim precipitation fluctuates with type of wrongdoing committed (Messner et.al, 2007, 116). Projected data on victim precipitation varies from 22 to 38% among homicides, 14% for motivated attacks, 4-19% for rape cases and the remainders 11% for armed burglary are some of the criminal activities facilitated by victim participation. These statistics may be low approximations of the frequency of victim participation due to the impartial obstructive description of victim precipitation existing in some crimes that is murder, attack and the huge cases with inadequate or insufficient information (Tseloni et.al, 2004, 107). The national survey reported that inadequate data prevents experts from exploring the existence of victim participation in more than 51% cases. Nevertheless, the significance of the concept of victim precipitation clearly stands out in numerous homicide cases hence the victim or the perpetrator depends on the situation.

Routine Activity Concept

Routine activity idea suggests a macro point of view on criminality in that it forecasts on the manner in which alterations within social and economic settings impact the entire crime and victimization frequency. Authors of the concepts assumed that illegal actions are systematically noteworthy phenomenon implying that violations are not coincidental events. Consequently, criminal activities are as a result of routine or regular behavior, individuals participate in and develop over time (McNeeley, 2015, 113). The behavior of a person can make them vulnerable or a suitable target for a calculating perpetrator. In addition, routine activities concepts entail the arrangements of criminality to the daily patterns resulting from societal relations. Therefore, crime rises from usual and self-determining factors accessible to an individual.

This theory applies to CJ’s case where he voluntarily hangs around gang members through the societal interactions in his neighborhood and ends up engaging in criminal activities, which nearly cost him his life (Spalek, 2016, 188). If there is a vulnerable target in a situation that presents numerous benefits, a driven perpetrator will definitely commit a crime. CJ1 is only 16 years old, yet he hangs around dangerous gangs, consumes alcohol and drugs. Therefore, according to the theory, he is an unprotected victim.

Lifestyle Theory of CJ

 Lifestyle and routine activity share the same perspective on victimization. Both theories interpret victimization via the lens of a highly stirred criminal, a vulnerable victim, and the absence of guardianship (Muftić, and Hunt, 2013, 209). These two theories vary in terms of traits, which increase risk of victimization. On one hand, lifestyle theory perceives risk as a probabilistic term, for instance, specific behavior put an individual at risk of victimization than others.

            In the excerpt, CJ is only 16 years of age, with lack of proper guidance, which in turn pushes him to social interactions among gang members. There is no one advising him to stay away from trouble (Kivivuori, Suonpää, and Lehti, 2014, 206). Lifestyle theory does not depend on the relational dynamics between a target and perpetrator. Past studies revealed that even though degrees of victimization vary from one place to another, personal and situational features found in each locality remained similar. For example, CJ’s is a youth; youths are at a higher risk of victimization than members of older age group are and men are at a greater risk of victimization than their counterpart females. Victimization can differ in quantity but identical in nature and quality hence depicting lifestyle theory of victimization.

In summary, for the successful manifestation of personal victimization in CJ’s case, three things took place: CJ’s gang intersected with the rival gang in time and space hence causing the violence and eventual hospitalization of CJ. Secondly, some cause of disagreement arose between CJ’s gang and the rival gang, creating victim vulnerability by the perpetrator hence leading to bodily harm. Thirdly, the lawbreaker was willing and capable of making actual his threats or utilization of brutal force to attain his desired results. The root of the challenge is accurately tracing all the elements that led to the CJ’s circumstance. For instance, factors which contributed to CJ’s exposure to great risk contexts and forces or aspects, which aided the meeting between the perpetrator and the target. The answer to CJ’s situation lies in his lifestyle.

The lifestyle of CJ can answer all the questions that led to his hospitalization due to grievous bodily harm. At the end of the day, his lifestyle, dictates his decision-making mechanism, and pattern activities, which in turn helps in predicting the coming into contact with his aggressor. After all, if the victim and the perpetrator never crossed roads, life style theory could not occur. It is vital to note that the lifestyle theory does not make an attempt to elaborate on social and mental undercurrents of a criminal event. Therefore are collections of patterned activities, job-related activities and leisure activities that take part in the formation of personal victimization. Lifestyle majorly concentrates on issues individuals take part throughout their daily lives. In addition, CJ’s lifestyle results from gang group adaptations to social and traditional constraints. For example, he starts smoking and doing drugs the moments he starts hanging out with other gang members. Likewise, gang members influence his beliefs and behavior hence he fights off a rival gang but unfortunately stabbed in the process.

References

Reyns, B.W., 2013. Online routines and identity theft victimization: Further expanding routine activity theory beyond direct-contact offenses. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 50(2), pp.216-238.

Pratt, T.C. and Turanovic, J.J., 2016. Lifestyle and routine activity theories revisited: The importance of “risk” to the study of victimization. Victims & Offenders, 11(3), pp.335-354.

Turanovic, J.J. and Pratt, T.C., 2014. “Can’t stop, won’t stop”: Self-control, risky lifestyles, and repeat victimization. Journal of quantitative criminology, 30(1), pp.29-56.

Van Ouytsel, J., Ponnet, K. and Walrave, M., 2018. Cyber dating abuse victimization among secondary school students from a lifestyle-routine activities theory perspective. Journal of interpersonal violence, 33(17), pp.2767-2776.

Messner, S.F., Lu, Z., Zhang, L. and Liu, J., 2007. Risks of criminal victimization in contemporary urban China: An application of lifestyle/routine activities theory. Justice Quarterly, 24(3), pp.496-522.

Tseloni, A., Wittebrood, K., Farrell, G. and Pease, K., 2004. Burglary victimization in England and Wales, the United States and the Netherlands: A cross-national comparative test of routine activities and lifestyle theories. British Journal of Criminology, 44(1), pp.66-91.

McNeeley, S., 2015. Lifestyle-routine activities and crime events. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 31(1), pp.30-52.

Muftić, L.R. and Hunt, D.E., 2013. Victim precipitation: Further understanding the linkage between victimization and offending in homicide. Homicide studies, 17(3), pp.239-254.

Kivivuori, J., Suonpää, K. and Lehti, M., 2014. Patterns and theories of European homicide research. European Journal of Criminology, 11(5), pp.530-551.

Spalek, B., 2016. Crime victims: Theory, policy and practice. Macmillan International Higher Education.