Positive Terms (positive + term)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


International health electives: thematic results of student and professional interviews

MEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 7 2010
Andrew Petrosoniak
Medical Education 2010: 44: 683,689 Objectives, The purpose of this study was to explore the complexities (including harms and benefits) of international health electives (IHEs) involving medical trainees. This exploration contributes to the ongoing debate about the goals and implications of IHEs for medical trainees. Methods, This qualitative study used anonymous, one-to-one, semi-structured interviews. All participants had previous international health experiences. Between September 2007 and March 2008, we interviewed a convenience sample of health care professionals (n = 10) and medical trainees (n = 10). Using a modified grounded theory methodology, we carried out cycles of data analysis in conjunction with data collection in an iterative and constant comparison process. The study's thematic structure was finalised when theme saturation was achieved. Results, Participants described IHEs in both negative and positive terms. IHEs were described as unsustained short-term contributions that lacked clear educational objectives and failed to address local community needs. Ethical dilemmas were described as IHE challenges. Participants reflected that many IHEs included aspects of medical tourism and the majority of participants described the IHE in negative terms. However, a few participants acknowledged the benefits of the IHE. Specifically, it was seen as an introduction to a career in global health and as a potential foundation for more sustainable projects with positive host community impacts. Finally, despite similar understandings among participants, self-awareness of medical tourism was low. Conclusions, International health electives may include potential harms and benefits for both the trainee and the host community. Educational institutions should encourage and support structured IHEs for trainee participation. We recommend that faculties of medicine and global health educators establish pre-departure training courses for trainees and that IHE opportunities have sufficient structures in place to mitigate the negative effects of medical tourism. We also recommend that trainees be provided with opportunities to conduct self-reflection and critically assess their IHE experiences. [source]


Partnership in Working with Young Offenders with Substance Misuse Problems

THE HOWARD JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE, Issue 3 2005
John Minkes
It draws on local evaluations of 25 projects funded by the Youth Justice Board's Development Fund from 1999 to 2002. For the most part, the relationships were described in mainly positive terms but a number of areas of potential and actual conflict were identified, notably confidentiality, referral criteria and enforcement. The findings are compared with previous research on partnerships between criminal justice and voluntary agencies, which generally indicate similar advantages and tensions. To some extent, YOTs and projects were able to avoid some of the predictable tensions by careful liaison and planning. However, the speed of the tendering process and the practical complexities of setting up the projects at the same time as the YOTs themselves were coming into being made this difficult for some projects. [source]


Front and Back Covers, Volume 25, Number 1.

ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY, Issue 1 2009
February 200
Front cover caption, volume 25 issue 1 A boy shows off on his horse at the annual festival of racing, games and music in Barsko'on, Kyrgyzstan in October 2007. The festival includes endurance races of up to 36 kilometres over steep, rocky mountain paths and streams, a far cry from the bowling-green surfaces of Churchill Downs and Newmarket. Abdildechan, an expert in horse games in Kyzyl Suu, explained that horse games and competitions such as these derive from the importance of horses to the nomadic and warrior traditions of the Kyrgyz people. Horses enable people to move away from danger, he explained, and are also essential for work and food. Cars are becoming increasingly common in Kyrgyzstan, but many people believe that they will never completely replace horses in this mountainous region. ,Young people may have cars', says shepherd Jakshylyck Orgochor, ,but where there is a Kyrgyz person there is always a horse: a horse is a man's wings'. In this issue, Rebecca Cassidy scrutinizes claims about the distinctiveness of the Kyrgyz horse and considers the political consequences of evaluating domesticated animals on the basis of contested categories including ,breed' and ,type'. Back Cover: HUMAN-ANIMAL RELATIONS Ros Coard, lecturer in archaeology and specialist in archaeozoology and forensic taphonomy in the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Wales Lampeter, examines forensic evidence taken from the scene of a suspected big cat kill in West Wales, UK. The skulls in the foreground belong to an array of known big cat species, and Coard compared tooth pit data from these skulls with those found in sheep and horses killed in unusual circumstances. These data have been used to provide evidence for the existence of at least one large predatory felid in West Wales. However, even without this scientific corroboration, many people around the UK report sightings of non-endemic ,alien' big cats (ABCs) on a regular basis, attributing to them an almost mythical status, and this makes them an interesting phenomenon to be considered from an anthropological perspective. Coard has been working collaboratively with Samantha Hurn, an anthropologist who has been documenting narratives relating to big cat sightings in West Wales. In this issue of ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY, Hurn outlines the data collected so far. She argues that ABCs do, indeed, exist in West Wales, and discusses how and why her informants from the local Welsh farming community regard these predators in positive terms. Many see ABCs as both important keystone species performing the valuable function of keeping other problematic predators (notably foxes) in check, and highly politicized animals who symbolize their own marginalized position within contemporary UK society. As Lévi-Strauss put it long ago, animal-human relations are, indeed, good to think with. [source]


In-court versus out-of-court testimonies: Children's experiences and adults' assessments

APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 7 2010
Sara Landström
The study examined the effects of different presentation modes on child witnesses' experiences and adults' perception and assessments of the same witnesses. Child witnesses (N,=,108) were interviewed about an event that they had either experienced or imagined. Adult mock jurors (N,=,240) watched the children's testimonies live, via two-way closed-circuit television (CCTV), or via a pre-recorded video. The results showed that the live observers perceived the children in more positive terms than did the two-way CCTV observers, who in turn perceived the children in more positive terms than did the video observers. Briefly, it seems as the more proximal the presentation mode, the more positive the observers' perception. Somewhat in contrast to these results, a significantly smaller proportion of the children who testified on video stated that they were nervous, compared to the children who testified live or via two-way CCTV. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Dynamics of Japanese and Chinese Security Policies in East Asia and Implications for Regional Stability

ASIAN POLITICS AND POLICY, Issue 3 2010
Elena Atanassova-Cornelis
This article examines the dynamics of Japanese and Chinese post,Cold War security policies in East Asia and assesses the implications for regional stability. To this end, the discussion explores elements in both countries' security policy behavior, and Sino-Japanese relations that have a stabilizing and/or destabilizing impact on the region. The article argues that, on the whole, Japanese and Chinese security policies have contributed to more stability than instability. Although the security dilemma between Japan (and the United States) and China may have become more pronounced, the balance of power currently maintained may be assessed in positive terms for the region. In addition, Sino-Japanese competition for influence has led to strengthening East Asian institution building and thereby fostered stability. While there is ground for cautious optimism regarding the future of Sino-Japanese cooperation, mutual strategic distrust between Tokyo and Beijing will underpin the security dilemma and their competitive policies in the region. [source]