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Personal Contexts (personal + context)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

Evaluation of the Personal Impact Health Assessment Questionnaire (PI HAQ) to capture the impact of disability in osteoarthritis

MUSCULOSKELETAL CARE, Issue 2 2010
Vikki Wylde BSc
Abstract Aim:,Measuring facts about disability may not reflect their personal impact. An individualized values instrument has been used to weight difficulty in performing activities of daily living in rheumatoid arthritis, and calculate personal impact (Personal Impact Health Assessment Questionnaire; PI HAQ). This study aimed to evaluate the PI HAQ in osteoarthritis (OA). Study design:,Study 1: 51 people with OA completed short and long versions of the value instrument at 0 and 1 week. Study 2: 116 people with OA completed the short value instrument, disability and psychological measures at 0 and 4 weeks. Results:,Study 1: The eight-category and 20-item value instruments correlated well (r = 0.85) and scores differed by just 2.7%. The eight-category instrument showed good internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's , = 0.85) and moderate one-week test-retest reliability (r = 0.68, Wilcoxon signed-rank test p = 0.16, intra-class correlation coefficient [ICC] 0.62). Study 2: Values for disability were not associated with disability severity or clinical status. After weighting disability by value, the resulting PI HAQ scores were significantly associated with dissatisfaction with disability, perceived increase in disability, poor clinical status and life dissatisfaction, and differed significantly between people with high and low clinical status (convergent and discriminant construct validity). There was moderate association with the disease repercussion profile disability subscale (r = 0.511; p < 0.001) (criterion validity). The PI HAQ was stable over four weeks (ICC 0.81). Conclusions:,These studies provide an initial evaluation of an instrument to measure the personal impact of disability in people with OA, setting disability within a personal context. Further studies, including sensitivity to change, are required. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Women's Careers Beyond the Classroom: Changing Roles in a Changing World

CURRICULUM INQUIRY, Issue 3 2001
Nina Bascia
Drawing from our own and others' research over the past decade and a half, we present four "readings," each illuminating a different dimension of women educators' career development, particularly their movement into work beyond the classroom. The majority of the participants in our studies are women who work for change in their classrooms, schools, and district organizations, using the opportunities, vehicles, and channels available,or apparent,to them. They do this work in professional and personal contexts that are continually changing, sometimes as a result of their own choices and actions and sometimes not. While there is a growing body of literature on women's movement into, and their lives in, educational administration, we are concerned here with the broader and more varied manifestations of leadership beyond the classroom. In the four readings, we bring together several strands in the literature on women educators' lives and careers. We first lay out the taken-for-granted oppositional contrasts in the educational discourses that have tended to obscure more complex understandings of work lives and careers. Next, we explore how the particular kinds of work available to women actually encourage some to move beyond narrow conceptions of the distinctions between classroom and nonclassroom work. Third, we discuss the developmental nature of individual career paths. Fourth, we note the spatial and temporal nature of leadership work by showing how it is influenced and changed by greater economic, social, and political forces. We believe that these multiple interpretations are required to understand the range and combination of influences that propel and compel women educators to take up various forms of leadership work beyond the classroom. [source]

Transforming aggressive conflict in political and personal contexts

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED PSYCHOANALYTIC STUDIES, Issue 4 2009
Andrew Samuels
Abstract The author begins by trying to imagine different models of politics applicable to Western societies. He reflects on the "state we are in" and asks if our present condition of political rupture could ever become political rapture. He asks whether it is possible for citizens to remove themselves from the abusive relationships with heroic, macho leaders. Instead, he states, we might ask where we will find new kinds of leaders who will be "good-enough". We will need such leaders if we are to manage the staggeringly high levels of conflict and aggression afflicting the political world today. The author suggests that we urgently explore innovative ways to manage conflict in political contexts using new psychological ideas about men, fathers and violence. Finally, he communicates what he has learned from Islam about some hidden aspects of political conflict. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Numeracy for adults with Down syndrome: it's a matter of quality of life

JOURNAL OF INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY RESEARCH, Issue 10 2005
R. Faragher
Abstract Background Numeracy development is widely accepted as critical for adults in the general community which is equally the case for adults with Down syndrome. This paper reports some of the findings of a study including the research question: What is the justification for numeracy development for adults with Down syndrome? Investigating this question led to the search for a framework to support the ongoing development of numeracy. Method The research used a case study methodology. Five adults were observed and interviewed in two contexts each. The data were analyzed to identify links to the quality of life model. Results The research illustrates how a quality of life approach can be used to justify and guide the lifelong development of numeracy. Data from the case studies linked numeracy to quality of life under the principles of personal contexts, variability, life-span perspective, values, choices and personal control, perceptions and self-image. Conclusions The principles of quality of life can provide a framework for the development of numeracy in the context of adulthood and Down syndrome. Preparation for the numeracy needs of a long and satisfying adulthood should begin in early childhood, continue in schools with the teaching of underlying mathematics concepts and skills, and be modified and refined throughout adulthood by the use of a numeracy development plan. Carers and professionals interacting in the contexts need to adopt a teaching role for numeracy. [source]