Anti-voice adaptation suggests prototype-based coding of voice identity

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Marianne eLatinus

2011-07-01

Full Text Available We used perceptual aftereffects induced by adaptation with anti-voice stimuli to investigate voice identity representations. Participants learned a set of voices then were tested on a voice identification task with vowel stimuli morphed between identities, after different conditions of adaptation. In Experiment 1, participants chose the identity opposite to the adapting anti-voice significantly more often than the other two identities (e.g., after being adapted to anti-A, they identified the average voice as A. In Experiment 2, participants showed a bias for identities opposite to the adaptor specifically for anti-voice, but not for non anti-voice adaptors. These results are strikingly similar to adaptation aftereffects observed for facial identity. They are compatible with a representation of individual voice identities in a multidimensional perceptual voice space referenced on a voice prototype.

Women's empowerment: Finding strength in self-compassion.

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Stevenson, Olivia; Allen, Ashley Batts

2017-03-01

Empowerment is often a desired outcome for health programs; however, it is rarely evaluated. One way to increase empowerment may be through self-compassion. The authors of the current study aimed to determine whether self-compassion and empowerment were positively related. Two hundred and five women (ages 18 to 48 years) were recruited from a pool of undergraduate students at a university in the southeastern United States in the summer/fall of 2012. Participants completed the study using Qualtrics, an online survey system. Participants wrote about a fight in a romantic relationship and were randomly assigned to write about the fight either self-compassionately or generally. Empowerment and perceptions of the fight were assessed as dependent measures. Hierarchical regression analyses investigated the relation of self-compassion, manipulated self-compassion, and their interaction with empowerment. A significant positive relationship was found between self-compassion and empowerment. However, manipulated self-compassion was not significantly related to empowerment. These findings suggested that self-compassion and empowerment were strongly related, but using a short-term self-compassion intervention may not be strong enough to influence empowerment. Empowerment-based practitioners may find empowerment increases more easily in women who are self-compassionate. If self-compassion is incorporated into empowerment settings, a long-term intervention may be necessary.

Perceptions of empowerment among ED nurses.

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DeVivo, Diane; Quinn Griffin, Mary T; Donahue, Moreen; Fitzpatrick, Joyce J

2013-11-01

Nurses' perceptions of empowerment have been linked to a number of variables in the hospital workplace, including job satisfaction, autonomy, and work effectiveness. Yet there have been no previous studies of perceptions of empowerment specifically among emergency department (ED) nurses. Registered nurses (RNs) employed in the EDs of 6 hospitals in a major health care system in the eastern United States were surveyed regarding their perceptions of empowerment. Of the 240 RNs eligible to participate, there were 167 usable surveys. There was a moderate level of empowerment among the RNs who participated, consistent with the level of empowerment reported in several other studies of staff nurses and nurses in other positions. The moderate level of empowerment in this sample may be attributed to the many opportunities for RN involvement in the hospitals within this health care system. Nurse leaders can initiate programs focused on enhancing RN perceptions of empowerment. In addition, there is a need for further research among RNs with different specialty preparation. Copyright © 2013. Published by Mosby, Inc.

Financial Empowerment and Health Related Quality of Life in Family Scholar House Participants

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Chelsey Franz

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Research demonstrates an association between poverty and health. Populations in poverty suffer from poor mental and physical health, and thus, poor health-related quality of life. Research also indicates people living in the lower socio-economic categories experience higher levels of stress that are associated with these health declines. Family Scholar House, a local community intervention designed to alleviate poverty and improve socio-economic status by providing college education and support to single parents, combats these health outcomes by addressing the five social determinants of health (economic stability, education, social and community context, health care, and neighborhood and built environment. Quantitative analysis indicates an improvement in mental health among Family Scholar House participants: 0-12 month participants reported significantly more mentally unhealthy days than a control group; however, this difference is no longer significant at the end of participant’s time in the program. Qualitative analysis suggests this improvement may be due to stress reduction related to increased economic stability and financial security gained through an intentional implementation of a financial empowerment curriculum within the Family Scholar House program. Implementation of financial empowerment into community programs designed to alleviate poverty may improve mental health and thus health-related quality of life.

Pathways to Youth Empowerment and Community Connectedness: A Study of Youth-Adult Partnership in Malaysian After-School, Co-Curricular Programs.

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Zeldin, Shepherd; Krauss, Steven Eric; Kim, Taehan; Collura, Jessica; Abdullah, Haslinda

2016-08-01

After-school programs are prevalent across the world, but there is a paucity of research that examines quality within the "black box" of programs at the point of service. Grounded in current theory, this research examined hypothesized pathways between the experience of youth-adult partnership (youth voice in decision-making; supportive adult relationships), the mediators of program safety and engagement, and the developmental outcomes of youth empowerment (leadership competence, policy control) and community connectedness (community connections, school attachment). Surveys were administered to 207 ethnically diverse (47.3 % female; 63.3 % Malay) youth, age 15-16, attending after-school co-curricular programs in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Results showed that youth voice in program decision-making predicted both indicators of youth empowerment. Neither youth voice nor supportive adult relationships was directly associated with community connectedness, however. Program engagement mediated the associations between youth-adult partnership and empowerment. In contrast, program safety mediated the associations between youth-adult partnership and community connectedness. The findings indicate that the two core components of youth-adult partnership-youth voice and supportive adult relationships-may operate through different, yet complementary, pathways of program quality to predict developmental outcomes. Implications for future research are highlighted. For reasons of youth development and youth rights, the immediate challenge is to create opportunities for youth to speak on issues of program concern and to elevate those adults who are able and willing to help youth exercise their voice.

Local Voices and Perspectives : A Study on the Contextualisation of Women's Empowerment in Lima, Peru

OpenAIRE

Salas Lazo, Henry Osmar

2013-01-01

The present study sets forth to contextualise women’s empowerment to the Peruvian setting by asking Peruvian women to identify what women’s empowerment should entail. More specifically, this academic project, on the one hand, attempts to examine how prominent scholars conceptualise empowerment and, on the other hand, analyse to what extent Peruvian women’s own understanding of the concept is similar and to what extent it is different from this scholarly conceptualisation. The ultimate goal is...

Technology Empowerment: Security Challenges.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Warren, Drake Edward [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Backus, George A. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Jones, Wendell [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Nelson, Thomas R. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Skocypec, Russell D. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2017-03-01

“Technology empowerment” means that innovation is increasingly accessible to ordinary people of limited means. As powerful technologies become more affordable and accessible, and as people are increasingly connected around the world, ordinary people are empowered to participate in the process of innovation and share the fruits of collaborative innovation. This annotated briefing describes technology empowerment and focuses on how empowerment may create challenges to U.S. national security. U.S. defense research as a share of global innovation has dwindled in recent years. With technology empowerment, the role of U.S. defense research is likely to shrink even further while technology empowerment will continue to increase the speed of innovation. To avoid falling too far behind potential technology threats to U.S. national security, U.S. national security institutions will need to adopt many of the tools of technology empowerment.

Empowerment: estudo de casos em empresas manufatureiras Empowerment: a case study in manufacturing companies

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Claudia Heloisa Ribeiro Rodrigues

2004-08-01

Full Text Available O objetivo deste artigo é analisar o desenvolvimento do empowerment em duas empresas manufatureiras. Empowerment é uma abordagem de projeto de trabalho que objetiva a delegação de poder de decisão, autonomia e participação dos funcionários na administração das empresas. Analisa-se o desenvolvimento do empowerment por meio dos estágios evolutivos das áreas de gestão, das configurações organizacionais, das estratégias competitivas, da gestão de recursos humanos e da qualidade. Apresenta-se um estudo de casos em duas empresas manufatureiras do interior de São Paulo, a fim de se analisar o grau de participação dos funcionários de acordo com o estágio evolutivo de suas áreas de gestão. Nas conclusões, discutem-se os fatores favoráveis, as particularidades e limitações do empowerment com base nos estudos de casos.An analysis is made here of the empowerment implementation process in two manufacturing companies. Empowerment is a work design approach aimed at delegating decision making, autonomy and employee participation in company management. The development of empowerment is analyzed through the evolutionary stages of management areas, organizational configurations, competitive strategies, and human resources and quality management. A case study of two manufacturing companies in the state of São Paulo was conducted to analyze the degree of employee participation according to the stages of evolution of their management areas. The conclusions section of this article discusses the favorable factors, peculiarities and limitations of empowerment revealed during these case studies.

Empowerment Pedagogy

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Loizou, Eleni; Charalambous, Nasia

2017-01-01

This study aims to unfold the framework of empowerment pedagogy by describing an approach of listening to the children, supporting their rights, and enhancing participation through the lens of a learning community. The authors draw from the literature that acknowledges children as active agents and supports them in participating in their daily…

Workplace ostracism And workplace behaviors: A moderated mediation model of perceived stress and psychological empowerment.

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Chung, Yang Woon

2018-05-01

Workplace ostracism research has examined numerous underlying mechanisms to understand the link between workplace ostracism and behavioral outcomes. Ostracism has been suggested to be an interpersonal stressor; however, research has not investigated workplace ostracism from a stress perspective. Therefore, the study investigated the mediating effect of perceived stress for the relationships between workplace ostracism and helping behavior, voicing behavior, and task performance. The study also investigated the moderating effect of psychological empowerment for the relationships between perceived stress and behavioral outcomes. The study design was a three-wave self-reported questionnaire. The study sampled 225 full-time employees in South Korea and regression analyses with bootstrapping were conducted to test the moderated mediation models. The bootstrapped 95% CI around the indirect effects did not contain zero; therefore, perceived stress mediated the relationship between workplace ostracism and helping behavior (-.06), voicing behavior (-.07), and task performance (-.07). Further, the moderated mediation analyses found perceived stress mediated the relationships between workplace ostracism and behavioral outcomes only when individuals perceived low levels of psychological empowerment. The findings suggest that workplace ostracism is a stressor and psychological empowerment can mitigate the negative effects of ostracism on behavioral outcomes.

Youth Empowerment and High School Gay-Straight Alliances

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Russell, Stephen T.; Muraco, Anna; Subramaniam, Aarti; Laub, Carolyn

2009-01-01

In the field of positive youth development programs, "empowerment" is used interchangeably with youth activism, leadership, civic participation and self-efficacy. However, few studies have captured what empowerment means to young people in diverse contexts. This article explores how youth define and experience empowerment in youth-led…

Women Empowerment and Participation in Economic Activities: Indispensable Tools for Self-Reliance and Development of Nigerian Society

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E. N., Ekesionye; A. N., Okolo

2012-01-01

The objective of the study was to examine women empowerment and participation in economic activities as tools for self-reliance and development of the Nigerian society. Research questions and hypothesis were used to guide the study. Structured questionnaire was used as the major instrument for data collection. Copies of questionnaires were…

Patient empowerment, patient participation and patient-centeredness in hospital care : A concept analysis based on a literature review

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Castro, E.M.; van Regenmortel, T.; Vanhaecht, K.; Sermeus, W.; van Hecke, A.

2016-01-01

Objectives The concepts of patient empowerment, patient participation and patient-centeredness have been introduced as part of the trend towards a more participatory health care and have largely been used interchangeably. Although these concepts have been discussed for a number of years, their exact

Factors of Empowerment for Women in Recovery from Substance Use

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Hunter, Bronwyn A.; Jason, Leonard A.; Keys, Christopher B.

2014-01-01

Empowerment is an interdisciplinary construct heavily grounded in the theories of community psychology. Although empowerment has a strong theoretical foundation, few context-specific quantitative measures have been designed to evaluate empowerment for specific populations. The present study explored the factor structure of a modified empowerment scale with a cross-sectional sample of 296 women in recovery from substance use who lived in recovery homes located throughout the United States. Results from an exploratory factor analysis identified three factors of psychological empowerment which were closely related to previous conceptualizations of psychological empowerment: self perception, resource knowledge and participation. Further analyses demonstrated a hierarchical relationship among the three factors, with resource knowledge predicting participation when controlling for self-perception. Finally, a correlational analysis demonstrated the initial construct validity of each factor, as each factor of empowerment was significantly and positively related to self-esteem. Implications for the application of psychological empowerment theory and research are discussed. PMID:22392193

Narratives of empowerment and compliance: studies of communication in online patient support groups.

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Wentzer, Helle S; Bygholm, Ann

2013-12-01

New technologies enable new forms of patient participation in health care. The article discusses whether communication in online patient support groups is a source of individual as well as collective empowerment or to be understood within the tradition of compliance. The discussion is based on a qualitative analysis of patient communication in two online groups on the Danish portal sundhed.dk, one for lung patients and one for women with fertility problems. The object of study is the total sum of postings during a specific period of time - a total of 4301 posts are included. The textmaterial was analyzed according to the textual paradigm of Paul Ricoeur, and the three steps of critical interpretation. Thus, the analysis moves from describing communicative characteristics of the site to a thorough semantic analysis of its narrative structure of construing meaning, interaction and collective identity, and finally as a source of collective action. The meta-narratives of the two groups confirm online patient support groups for individual empowerment, for collective group identity, but not for collective empowerment. The collective identities of patienthood on the two sites are created by the users (patients) through specific styles of communication and interaction, referred to as 'multi-logical narratives'. In spite of the potential of online communities of opening up health care to the critical voice of the public, the analysis points to a synthesis of the otherwise opposite positions of empowerment and compliance in patient care. On a collective level, the site is empowering the individual users to comply with 'doctor's recommendations' as a group. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Youth empowerment and high school Gay-Straight Alliances.

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Russell, Stephen T; Muraco, Anna; Subramaniam, Aarti; Laub, Carolyn

2009-08-01

In the field of positive youth development programs, "empowerment" is used interchangeably with youth activism, leadership, civic participation and self-efficacy. However, few studies have captured what empowerment means to young people in diverse contexts. This article explores how youth define and experience empowerment in youth-led organizations characterized by social justice goals: high school Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs). Through focus group interviews, fifteen youth leaders of GSAs from different regions of California explain what they think empowerment means and how they became empowered through their involvement with the GSA. Youth describe three inter-related dimensions of empowerment: personal empowerment, relational empowerment, and strategic empowerment through having and using knowledge. When these three dimensions are experienced in combination, GSA leaders have the potential for individual and collective empowerment as agents of social change at school. By understanding these youth's perspectives on the meanings of empowerment, this article clarifies the conceptual arena for future studies of socially marginalized youth and of positive youth development.

Early Childhood Teachers in Contexts of Power: Empowerment and a Voice

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Overton, Jenny

2009-01-01

This article reports on findings from a qualitative research project (Overton, 2006) that highlighted a lack of empowerment experienced by, with and for eight early childhood teachers working in Tasmanian schools. The study investigated how change affects teachers, and focused on the theme of power as experienced by these teachers. The study noted…

I like my voice better: self-enhancement bias in perceptions of voice attractiveness.

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Hughes, Susan M; Harrison, Marissa A

2013-01-01

Previous research shows that the human voice can communicate a wealth of nonsemantic information; preferences for voices can predict health, fertility, and genetic quality of the speaker, and people often use voice attractiveness, in particular, to make these assessments of others. But it is not known what we think of the attractiveness of our own voices as others hear them. In this study eighty men and women rated the attractiveness of an array of voice recordings of different individuals and were not told that their own recorded voices were included in the presentation. Results showed that participants rated their own voices as sounding more attractive than others had rated their voices, and participants also rated their own voices as sounding more attractive than they had rated the voices of others. These findings suggest that people may engage in vocal implicit egotism, a form of self-enhancement.

Group Empowerment in Nursing Education.

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Friend, Mary Louanne

2015-12-01

Nursing education is experiencing rapid changes, as nurses are expected to transform and lead health care delivery within the United States. The ability to produce exceptional graduates requires faculty who are empowered to achieve goals. The Sieloff-King Assessment of Group Empowerment Within Organizations (SKAGEO) was adapted and administered online to a stratified sample of administrators and faculty in American Association of Colleges of Nursing-member schools. Participants' scores were within high ranges in both empowerment capacity and capability; however, administrator group scores were higher. Data analyses indicated that administrator leadership competencies were associated with group empowerment. This study suggests that empowered faculty and administrator groups anticipate changing health care trends and effect student outcomes and competencies by their interventions. Also, it can be inferred that as a result of administrators' competencies, participants teach in empowered work environments where they can model ideal behaviors. Copyright 2015, SLACK Incorporated.

Youth Empowerment and High School Gay-Straight Alliances

Science.gov (United States)

Muraco, Anna; Subramaniam, Aarti; Laub, Carolyn

2010-01-01

In the field of positive youth development programs, “empowerment” is used interchangeably with youth activism, leadership, civic participation and self-efficacy. However, few studies have captured what empowerment means to young people in diverse contexts. This article explores how youth define and experience empowerment in youth-led organizations characterized by social justice goals: high school Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs). Through focus group interviews, fifteen youth leaders of GSAs from different regions of California explain what they think empowerment means and how they became empowered through their involvement with the GSA. Youth describe three inter-related dimensions of empowerment: personal empowerment, relational empowerment, and strategic empowerment through having and using knowledge. When these three dimensions are experienced in combination, GSA leaders have the potential for individual and collective empowerment as agents of social change at school. By understanding these youth's perspectives on the meanings of empowerment, this article clarifies the conceptual arena for future studies of socially marginalized youth and of positive youth development. PMID:19636734

Perceiving a stranger's voice as being one's own: a 'rubber voice' illusion?

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Zane Z Zheng

2011-04-01

Full Text Available We describe an illusion in which a stranger's voice, when presented as the auditory concomitant of a participant's own speech, is perceived as a modified version of their own voice. When the congruence between utterance and feedback breaks down, the illusion is also broken. Compared to a baseline condition in which participants heard their own voice as feedback, hearing a stranger's voice induced robust changes in the fundamental frequency (F0 of their production. Moreover, the shift in F0 appears to be feedback dependent, since shift patterns depended reliably on the relationship between the participant's own F0 and the stranger-voice F0. The shift in F0 was evident both when the illusion was present and after it was broken, suggesting that auditory feedback from production may be used separately for self-recognition and for vocal motor control. Our findings indicate that self-recognition of voices, like other body attributes, is malleable and context dependent.

Five Enunciations of Empowerment i Participatory Design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ertner, Sara Marie; Kragelund, Anne Mie; Malmborg, Lone

2010-01-01

Participatory design has been defined as having 'user's democratic participation and empowerment at its core' (Correia and Yusop, 2008). The PD discourse has a strong moral and rhetorical claim by its emphasis on users' empowerment. This paper is a result of a student project, guided by a curiosity...... about how empowerment is enunciated in the PD field today. In a literature-review of academic papers from the proceedings of PDC 2008 we found that empowerment is enunciated in five different ways which can be translated into 5 categories: 1) Specific user groups 2) Direct democracy 3) The users...

Associations between the Transsexual Voice Questionnaire (TVQMtF ) and self-report of voice femininity and acoustic voice measures.

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Dacakis, Georgia; Oates, Jennifer; Douglas, Jacinta

2017-11-01

The Transsexual Voice Questionnaire (TVQ MtF ) was designed to capture the voice-related perceptions of individuals whose gender identity as female is the opposite of their birth-assigned gender (MtF women). Evaluation of the psychometric properties of the TVQ MtF is ongoing. To investigate associations between TVQ MtF scores and (1) self-perceptions of voice femininity and (2) acoustic parameters of voice pitch and voice quality in order to evaluate further the validity of the TVQ MtF . A strong correlation between TVQ MtF scores and self-ratings of voice femininity was predicted, but no association between TVQ MtF scores and acoustic measures of voice pitch and quality was proposed. Participants were 148 MtF women (mean age 48.14 years) recruited from the La Trobe Communication Clinic and the clinics of three doctors specializing in transgender health. All participants completed the TVQ MtF and 34 of these participants also provided a voice sample for acoustic analysis. Pearson product-moment correlation analysis was conducted to examine the associations between TVQ MtF scores and (1) self-perceptions of voice femininity and (2) acoustic measures of F0, jitter (%), shimmer (dB) and harmonic-to-noise ratio (HNR). Strong negative correlations between the participants' perceptions of their voice femininity and the TVQ MtF scores demonstrated that for this group of MtF women a low self-rating of voice femininity was associated with more frequent negative voice-related experiences. This association was strongest with the vocal-functioning component of the TVQ MtF . These strong correlations and high levels of shared variance between the TVQ MtF and a measure of a related construct provides evidence for the convergent validity of the TVQ MtF . The absence of significant correlations between the TVQ MtF and the acoustic data is consistent with the equivocal findings of earlier research. This finding indicates that these two measures assess different aspects of the voice

A model for empowerment of nursing in Iran

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Salsali Mahvash

2005-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background While the Iranian nursing profession tries to reach to its full capacity for participating in the maintenance of public health, its desire to develop is strongly influenced by cultural, economic, and religious factors. The concept of empowerment is frequently used in nursing and the health services, particularly in relation to the quality of care, since the mission of nursing is to provide safe and quality nursing care thereby enabling patients to achieve their maximum level of wellness. When considering the importance of nursing services in any health system, the 54th World Health Assembly recommended that programs be designed to strengthen and promote the nursing profession. Since empowerment is crucial to the role of nurses, a qualitative study was conducted and aimed at designing a model for empowering nurses in Iran. Methods A grounded theory approach was used for analyzing the participants' experiences, their perceptions and the strategies affecting empowerment. Data collection was done through Semi-structured interviews and participant observation. Forty-four participants were interviewed and 12 sessions of observation were carried out. Results Three main categories emerged from the data collected; these are "personal empowerment", "collective empowerment", and "the culture and structure of the organization." From the participants' perspective, empowerment is a dynamic process that results from mutual interaction between personal and collective traits of nurses as well as the culture and the structure of the organization. Impediments, such as power dynamics within the health care system hinder nurses from demonstrating that they possess the essential ingredients of empowerment. Conclusion A model was designed for empowering the nursing profession in Iran. Implementing this model will not only define nursing roles, identify territories in the national healthcare system, but it will restructure nursing systems, sub

Empowerment and Experiential Education: A State of Knowledge Paper

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Shellman, Amy

2014-01-01

Experiential settings hold great potential for empowering participants. Beginning with an overview of how empowerment has been defined and conceptualized in the literature, this article examines the construct of empowerment in experiential education settings as a process and an outcome. A summary of how empowerment has been applied and measured in…

Familiarity and Voice Representation: From Acoustic-Based Representation to Voice Averages

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Maureen Fontaine

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The ability to recognize an individual from their voice is a widespread ability with a long evolutionary history. Yet, the perceptual representation of familiar voices is ill-defined. In two experiments, we explored the neuropsychological processes involved in the perception of voice identity. We specifically explored the hypothesis that familiar voices (trained-to-familiar (Experiment 1, and famous voices (Experiment 2 are represented as a whole complex pattern, well approximated by the average of multiple utterances produced by a single speaker. In experiment 1, participants learned three voices over several sessions, and performed a three-alternative forced-choice identification task on original voice samples and several “speaker averages,” created by morphing across varying numbers of different vowels (e.g., [a] and [i] produced by the same speaker. In experiment 2, the same participants performed the same task on voice samples produced by familiar speakers. The two experiments showed that for famous voices, but not for trained-to-familiar voices, identification performance increased and response times decreased as a function of the number of utterances in the averages. This study sheds light on the perceptual representation of familiar voices, and demonstrates the power of average in recognizing familiar voices. The speaker average captures the unique characteristics of a speaker, and thus retains the information essential for recognition; it acts as a prototype of the speaker.

Narratives of empowerment and compliance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wentzer, Helle; Bygholm, Ann

2013-01-01

Purpose: New technologies enable new forms of patient participation in health care. Thearticle discusses whether communication in online patient support groups is a source ofindividual as well as collective empowerment or to be understood within the tradition ofcompliance. The discussion is based...... of empowerment and compliance in patient care. On a collective level, the site isempowering the individual users to comply with ‘doctor’s recommendations’ as a group....

Climate stories: Why do climate scientists and sceptical voices participate in the climate debate?

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Sharman, Amelia; Howarth, Candice

2017-10-01

Public perceptions of the climate debate predominantly frame the key actors as climate scientists versus sceptical voices; however, it is unclear why climate scientists and sceptical voices choose to participate in this antagonistic and polarised public battle. A narrative interview approach is used to better understand the underlying rationales behind 22 climate scientists' and sceptical voices' engagement in the climate debate, potential commonalities, as well as each actor's ability to be critically self-reflexive. Several overlapping rationales are identified including a sense of duty to publicly engage, agreement that complete certainty about the complex assemblage of climate change is unattainable and that political factors are central to the climate debate. We argue that a focus on potential overlaps in perceptions and rationales as well as the ability to be critically self-reflexive may encourage constructive discussion among actors previously engaged in purposefully antagonistic exchange on climate change.

From Knowing to Understanding Student Empowerment: A Narrative Approach to Research in a Middle School

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Horn, Brian R.

2015-01-01

This paper examines how, as a teacher researcher, I employed a narrative approach to research to better understand my 8th grade Language Arts students' empowerment in school. Drawing on sociocultural theory, critical pedagogy and a narrative approach to teacher research, students' voices were privileged and compared to the systemic assumptions…

Do Transmasculine Speakers Present with Gender-Related Voice Problems? Insights from a Participant-Centered Mixed-Methods Study

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Azul, David; Arnold, Aron; Neuschaefer-Rube, Christiane

2018-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there are indications of gender-related voice problems in our transmasculine participants and to analyze how discrepancies between participant self-evaluations and researcher-led examinations can be best negotiated to ensure a participant-centered interpretation. Method: We conducted a…

Mediating and/or moderating roles of psychological empowerment.

Science.gov (United States)

Meng, Lina; Jin, Yi; Guo, Jiajia

2016-05-01

The purpose of this study was to explore the mediating and/or moderating effects of psychological empowerment in the relationship between structural empowerment and burnout among nurses in China. Burnout is prevalent among nurses. Previous studies have found that empowering organizational structures contribute to reduce nurses' burnout. However, little is known about the mediating or moderating role of psychological empowerment in the relationship between structural empowerment and burnout among nurses in China. A cross-sectional design was conducted. A total of 244 nurses participated in this study. The data were collected in March 2013. Multiple regressions were used to test the hypothesized models. Psychological empowerment was found to be a significant mediator of the relationship between structural empowerment and burnout (standardized β=-0.553, Sobel test: z=7.79, pmoderating effect of psychological empowerment in that relationship was not verified. Both structural and psychological empowerment negatively correlated with burnout. The psychological empowerment had a mediating effect on burnout. It is important for nurse managers to develop strategies to ensure that empowering structures are in place and to facilitate nurses' perception of psychological empowerment. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Patient empowerment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Eskildsen, Nanna Bjerg; Joergensen, Clara Ruebner; Thomsen, Thora Grothe

2017-01-01

Background There is an increased attention to and demand for patient empowerment in cancer treatment and follow-up programmes. Patient empowerment has been defined as feeling in control of or having mastery in relation to cancer and cancer care. This calls for properly developed questionnaires...... assessing empowerment from the user perspective. The aim of this review was to identify questionnaires and sub-scales measuring empowerment and manifestations of empowerment among cancer patients. Materials and methods We conducted a systematic search of the PubMed, PsycINFO and CINAHL databases....... Empowerment and multiple search terms associated with empowerment were included. We included peer-reviewed articles published in English, which described questionnaires measuring empowerment or manifestations of empowerment in a cancer setting. In addition, the questionnaire had to be a patient...

Vocal symptoms, voice activity, and participation profile and professional performance of call center operators.

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Piwowarczyk, Tatiana Carvalho; Oliveira, Gisele; Lourenço, Luciana; Behlau, Mara

2012-03-01

To analyze the phonatory and laryngopharyngeal symptoms reported by call center operators; and quantify the impact of these symptoms on quality of life, and the association between these issues and professional performance, number of monthly calls, and number of missed workdays. Call center operators (n=157) from a billing call center completed the Vocal Signs and Symptoms Questionnaire and the Brazilian version of the Voice Activity and Participation Profile (VAPP). The company provided data regarding professional performance, average number of monthly calls, and number of missed workdays for each employee. The mean number of current symptoms (6.8) was greater in the operators than data for the general population (1.7). On average, 4.2 symptoms were attributed to occupational factors. The average number of symptoms did not correlate with professional performance (P=0.571). However, fewer symptoms correlated with decreased missed workdays and higher mean monthly call figures. The VAPP scores were relatively low, suggesting little impact of voice difficulties on call center operator's quality of life. However, subjects with elevated VAPP scores also had poorer professional performance. The presence of vocal symptoms does not necessarily relate to decreased professional performance. However, an association between higher vocal activity limitation and participation scores and poorer professional performance was observed. Copyright © 2012 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Unfamiliar voice identification: Effect of post-event information on accuracy and voice ratings

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Harriet Mary Jessica Smith

2014-04-01

Full Text Available This study addressed the effect of misleading post-event information (PEI on voice ratings, identification accuracy, and confidence, as well as the link between verbal recall and accuracy. Participants listened to a dialogue between male and female targets, then read misleading information about voice pitch. Participants engaged in verbal recall, rated voices on a feature checklist, and made a lineup decision. Accuracy rates were low, especially on target-absent lineups. Confidence and accuracy were unrelated, but the number of facts recalled about the voice predicted later lineup accuracy. There was a main effect of misinformation on ratings of target voice pitch, but there was no effect on identification accuracy or confidence ratings. As voice lineup evidence from earwitnesses is used in courts, the findings have potential applied relevance.

Female Empowerment in Iran: The Voice of Iranian University Students

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Fereidouni, Somayeh; Mehran, Golmar; Mansourian, Yasdan

2015-01-01

In line with global trends, the rate of Iranian female students' enrolment in higher education has increased. However, some policy makers have been concerned about this and without considering the female voice, they have implemented strategies to balance the labour market, which has led to a decrease in female students in certain majors. The…

Hope in Hard Times: Women’s Empowerment and Human Development

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Manisha Desai

2010-01-01

This paper addresses the conceptual and methodological issues related to women’s empowerment, the trends in women’s empowerment over the last 20 years in key areas such as education, health, economic and political participation, and finally the best practices of state and non-state actors in empowering women. Following a brief critique of human development, it begins with a discussion of the growing conceptual consensus around empowerment, i.e., empowerment being control over resources, women...

Doing the "Work of Hearing": Girls' Voices in Transnational Educational Development Campaigns

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Khoja-Moolji, Shenila

2016-01-01

There is an increasing focus in transnational campaigns for girls' education and empowerment on highlighting the voices of girls from the global south. These moves are made in response to feminist critiques of said campaigns for not attending to the diverse, multiple and complex lived experiences of girls. This article engages in theorising these…

Concepts and measures of patient empowerment: a comprehensive review

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Paloma Garcimartín Cerezo

Full Text Available Abstract OBJECTIVE Analyze the definitions and dimensions of empowerment. Identify the strengths and weaknesses of empowerment measures based on the conceptual model. METHOD This was a comprehensive literature review of publications on the MEDLINE and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL databases. RESULTS Twenty-nine articles were selected. Seventeen definitions and seven dimensions of empowerment, and 10 empowerment measures were selected. Empowerment can be seen as an enabling process involving a shift in the balance of power, or as an outcome of this process. The dimensions reflect outcome indicators, such as participation in decision-making and control, and process indicators, such as knowledge acquisition and coping skills. Six of the tools analyzed by this study could be said to provide a robust measure of patient empowerment. CONCLUSION we propose a definition of empowerment that helps to deepen understanding of the term and, therefore, its operationalization.

Restorative justice and the active victim: Exploring the concept of empowerment

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Aertsen Ivo

2011-01-01

Full Text Available This paper departs from the observation that the victim image leading public discourse has transformed in recent years: increasingly victims reject the traditional victim label implying helplessness and dependency to adopt the image of the emancipated victim that wishes to participate in the criminal proceedings. Restorative justice at first sight provides an answer to these emancipated victims’ wishes, offering them participation in criminal proceedings. Yet, using the concept of empowerment as an example and the community psychology perspective as a theoretical reference, our analysis suggests that restorative justice uses a restricted definition of empowerment: it reduces empowerment to developing self-confidence and new understandings of the offence, neglecting the behavioural component of empowerment. This characteristic of restorative justice seems to deny victims’ capacities to promote social change and inhibit them from reaching true empowerment.

Empowerment of personal injury victims through the internet: design of a randomized controlled trial.

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Elbers, Nieke A; Akkermans, Arno J; Cuijpers, Pim; Bruinvels, David J

2011-02-02

Research has shown that current claims settlement process can have a negative impact on psychological and physical recovery of personal injury (PI) victims. One of the explanations for the negative impact on health is that the claims settlement process is a stressful experience and victims suffer from renewed victimization caused by the claims settlement process. PI victims can experience a lack of information, lack of involvement, lack of 'voice', and poor communication. We present the first study that aims to empower PI victims with respect to the negative impact of the claims settlement process by means of an internet intervention. The study is a two armed, randomized controlled trial (RCT), in which 170 PI victims are randomized to either the intervention or control group. The intervention group will get access to a website providing 1) an information module, so participants learn what is happening and what to expect during the claims settlement process, and 2) an e-coach module, so participants learn to cope with problems they experience during the claims settlement process. The control group will get access to a website with hyperlinks to commonly available information only. Participants will be recruited via a PI claims settlement office. Participants are included if they have been involved in a traffic accident which happened less than two years ago, and are at least 18 years old.The main study parameter is the increase of empowerment within the intervention group compared to the control group. Empowerment will be measured by the mastery scale and a self-efficacy scale. The secondary outcomes are perceived justice, burden, well being, work ability, knowledge, amount of damages, and lawyer-client communication. Data are collected at baseline (T0 measurement before randomization), at three months, six months, and twelve months after baseline. Analyses will be conducted according to the intention-to-treat principle. This study evaluates the effectiveness of an

Empowerment of personal injury victims through the internet: design of a randomized controlled trial

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Elbers Nieke A

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Research has shown that current claims settlement process can have a negative impact on psychological and physical recovery of personal injury (PI victims. One of the explanations for the negative impact on health is that the claims settlement process is a stressful experience and victims suffer from renewed victimization caused by the claims settlement process. PI victims can experience a lack of information, lack of involvement, lack of 'voice', and poor communication. We present the first study that aims to empower PI victims with respect to the negative impact of the claims settlement process by means of an internet intervention. Methods/design The study is a two armed, randomized controlled trial (RCT, in which 170 PI victims are randomized to either the intervention or control group. The intervention group will get access to a website providing 1 an information module, so participants learn what is happening and what to expect during the claims settlement process, and 2 an e-coach module, so participants learn to cope with problems they experience during the claims settlement process. The control group will get access to a website with hyperlinks to commonly available information only. Participants will be recruited via a PI claims settlement office. Participants are included if they have been involved in a traffic accident which happened less than two years ago, and are at least 18 years old. The main study parameter is the increase of empowerment within the intervention group compared to the control group. Empowerment will be measured by the mastery scale and a self-efficacy scale. The secondary outcomes are perceived justice, burden, well being, work ability, knowledge, amount of damages, and lawyer-client communication. Data are collected at baseline (T0 measurement before randomization, at three months, six months, and twelve months after baseline. Analyses will be conducted according to the intention

Empowerment in the process of health messaging for rural low-income mothers: an exploratory message design project.

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Aldoory, Linda; Braun, Bonnie; Maring, Elisabeth Fost; Duggal, Mili; Briones, Rowena Lynn

2015-01-01

Rural, low-income mothers face challenges to their health equal to or greater than those of low-income mothers from urban areas. This study put health message design into the hands of low-income rural mothers. The current study filled a research gap by analyzing a participatory process used to design health messages tailored to the everyday lives of rural low-income mothers. A total of forty-three mothers participated in nine focus groups, which were held from 2012 to 2013, in eight states. The mothers were from different racial and ethnic backgrounds. Participants discussed food security, physical activity, and oral health information. They created messages by considering several elements: visuals, length of message, voice/perspective, self-efficacy and personal control, emotional appeals, positive and negative reinforcements, and steps to health behavior change. This study was innovative in its focus on empowerment as a key process to health message design.

Exit, Voice or Loyalty. Citizens’ Orientations and Participation Mechanisms in Latin America

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José Del Tronco

2015-10-01

Full Text Available In Latin America, citizen's discontent with representative institutions has been shown by many scholars during last two decades. Latin American citizens express a general sentiment of disengagement and distrust from politics and politicians. This fact has re-launched the debate on the convenience of social participation in the policy-making process, beyond and complementing the electoral mechanism. Though, there is a lack of evidence to establish under what conditions Latin American citizens decide (or not to participate in public affairs to contribute to solve those problems. Theoretically based on the seminal work of Albert Hirschman (1977, the current study uses public opinion data from Latinbarometer (2008 to find the factors that increase (voice and decrease (exit the probability of citizens to participate in collective actions.

Empowerment: ciclo de implementação, dimensões e tipologia Empowerment: implementation cycle, dimensions and typology

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Claudia Heloisa Ribeiro Rodrigues

2001-12-01

Full Text Available O empowerment é uma abordagem de projeto de trabalho que objetiva a delegação de poder de decisão, autonomia e participação dos funcionários na administração das empresas. Este artigo mostra as especificidades do empowerment em termos de suas dimensões, ciclo de implementação e tipologia. Discutem-se as etapas do ciclo de implementação do empowerment com o objetivo de enfatizar sua complexidade e sua natureza estratégica. Como dimensões tratadas têm-se: a visão compartilhada, a estrutura organizacional e o gerenciamento, a responsabilidade pela gestão do conhecimento e aprendizagem, e o reconhecimento institucional dos funcionários. A diversidade do empowerment é analisada em função de dois tipos de autoridade para tomada de decisão: sobre o conteúdo do trabalho e a sobre o contexto do trabalho. Com base nesta análise, os seguintes tipos de empowerment são apresentados: nulo, estabelecimento de atividades, participativo, definição de missão e auto-gerenciamento. Estabelecem-se também relações do empowerment com as configurações organizacionais, os estágios evolutivos das áreas funcionais e a administração de recursos humanos.Empowerment is an approach of work design which aims at delegating decision power, autonomy and employees’ participation in managing the company. This paper shows the peculiarities of empowerment in terms of its dimension, implementation cycle and typology. The steps of its implementation cycle are discussed in order to highlight its complexity and strategic nature. The following dimensions are presented: shared vision, organizational structure and management, responsibility for knowledge management and learning, and employees’ institutional recognition. The diversity of empowerment is analyzed in function of two types of authority for decision-making: over job content and over job context. Based on this analysis, the following typology of empowerment is presented: no discretion

Nursing Student Perceptions of Structural Empowerment.

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Moore, Shelley C; Ward, Karen S

To meet role expectations for nurses, nurses must feel empowered. Faculty contributions to the learning environment for nursing students are critical. A descriptive analysis of student perceptions of empowerment within the learning environment was conducted using a form of Kanter's Conditions of Work Effectiveness Questionnaire; 203 participants from schools in 17 different states completed surveys. Subjects demonstrated moderate degrees of structural empowerment in their learning environment. This positive finding can be further investigated and used to fully prepare future nurses.

The meaning of empowerment within Italian nursing care settings.

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Rega, Maria Luisa; Diano, Pasquale; Damiani, Gianfranco; De Vito, Corrado; Galletti, Caterina; Talucci, Carlo

2017-11-01

To examine the current state of empowerment of nurses in Italy. Empowerment is a broad concept that is also relevant to the field of nursing practice. Its comprehension and use are important because empowerment allows nurses to take control of their own practice. A clear understanding of empowerment is necessary for nurses to take advantage of this important tool. Focus groups were conducted. A literature review was performed, and two focus groups were selected between January and February 2014. Sixteen nurses participated in the research. Empowerment is seen as being strongly connected to autonomy and is not associated with power, as the word itself suggests. Italian nurses define empowerment as the creation of conditions that help to establish the possibility for people to develop and express their value and potential. Empowerment is defined as a condition in which the individual nurse takes control of his/her own practice and thereby provides awareness and confidence to a group. Italian nurses need to feel appreciated and supported by their own organisations. If warranted, empowerment would allow them to contribute to enhance care, which is the core of the nursing profession. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Patient empowerment: a systematic review of questionnaires measuring empowerment in cancer patients.

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Eskildsen, Nanna Bjerg; Joergensen, Clara Ruebner; Thomsen, Thora Grothe; Ross, Lone; Dietz, Susanne Malchau; Groenvold, Mogens; Johnsen, Anna Thit

2017-02-01

There is an increased attention to and demand for patient empowerment in cancer treatment and follow-up programs. Patient empowerment has been defined as feeling in control of or having mastery in relation to cancer and cancer care. This calls for properly developed questionnaires assessing empowerment from the user perspective. The aim of this review was to identify questionnaires and subscales measuring empowerment and manifestations of empowerment among cancer patients. We conducted a systematic search of the PubMed, PsycINFO and CINAHL databases. Empowerment and multiple search terms associated with empowerment were included. We included peer-reviewed articles published in English, which described questionnaires measuring empowerment or manifestations of empowerment in a cancer setting. In addition, the questionnaire had to be a patient-reported outcome measure for adult cancer patients. Database searches identified 831 records. Title and abstract screening resulted in 482 records being excluded. The remaining 349 full text articles were retrieved and assessed for eligibility. This led to the inclusion of 33 individual instruments measuring empowerment and manifestations of empowerment. Of these, only four were specifically developed to measure empowerment, and two were originally developed for the cancer setting, whereas the remaining two were developed elsewhere, but adapted to the cancer setting. The other 29 questionnaires were not intended to measure the concept of empowerment, but focused on patient-centered care, patient competence, self-efficacy, etc. However, they were included because part of the instrument (at least five items) was considered to measure empowerment or manifestations of empowerment. Our study provides an overview of the available questionnaires, which can be used by researchers and practitioners who wish to measure the concept of empowerment among cancer patients. Very few questionnaires were explicitly developed to explore

School Health Promotion to Increase Empowerment, Gender Equality and Pupil Participation: A Focus Group Study of a Swedish Elementary School Initiative

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Gadin, Katja Gillander; Weiner, Gaby; Ahlgren, Christina

2013-01-01

A school health promotion project was carried out in an elementary school in Sweden where active participation, gender equality, and empowerment were leading principles. The objective of the study was to understand challenges and to identify social processes of importance for such a project. Focus group interviews were conducted with 6 single-sex…

Relationship between organizational climate and empowerment of nurses in Hong Kong.

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Mok, Esther; Au-Yeung, Betty

2002-05-01

The authors explore the relationship between organizational climate and empowerment among the nursing staff of a regional hospital in Hong Kong. The main purpose of the study was to apply the modified Spreitzer measure of empowerment in a hospital and to examine the relationship of organizational climate to perceptions of empowerment. From 658 questionnaires sent out, 331 nurses participated in the study with a response rate of 50.3%. Survey measures administered included the modified Litwin and Stringer Organizational Climate Questionnaire (LSOCQ) and the modified Spreitzer empowerment instrument. The relationships between organizational climate and empowerment were examined in a series of bivariate correlational analyses. The final section of the questionnaire asked the respondents to list three elements in the organizational climate that they perceived would further increase their feelings of empowerment. Exploratory factor analysis of the modified LSOCQ resulted in six factors: leadership, working harmony, challenge, recognition, teamwork and decision making. There was a positive correlation between organizational climate and psychological empowerment. Using multiple regression analysis, all the six derived climate factors significantly accounted for 44% of the variance. Among the six predicting factors, leadership and teamwork showed the most positive relationship with psychological empowerment. Responses from the open questions on perception of organizational climate that further enhance nurses' feelings of empowerment were categorized into eight areas. They include leadership, communication, working relationship, recognition, structure, training, teamwork and stress management. The study echoes previous studies in finding that organizational climate and, in particular, supportive leadership and teamwork are related to empowerment. The findings also suggest that the nurses in the study did not put much emphasis on the importance of participative decision

Empowerment onderzoek: een kritische vriend voor sociaal werkers

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Tine Van Regenmortel

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Empowerment research: A critical friend for social work practitioners The empowerment paradigm has consequences for social work practice and policy, as well as for the way in which research is carried out. The growing prominence of empowerment research is relevant because empowerment – as a central notion in the international definition of social work – provides identity to social work research. Empowerment research also meets the increasing demand for co-creation in research. Here, different stakeholders not only contribute relevant knowledge, but also have a say in the design of the research and in the interpretation and transfer of its results. The questions that we address in this article involve the methodological consequences of empowerment research, its implementation in practice and the lessons that can be learned from this.In the first part of this article, we demonstrate the theoretical foundations of empowerment research. In addition to its philosophical underpinnings, we describe the key aspects of empowerment research focusing particularly on methodological consequences. Three inspirational resources are the empowerment theory formulated by Rappaport and Zimmerman, responsive evaluation formulated by Stake and Abma, and empowerment evaluation formulated by Fetterman and Wandersman. We describe this threefold perspective, which is so central to empowerment research, as a power-oriented, multi-stakeholder and multi-level research approach, with a focus on improvement and social justice, a quest for ownership, continuous participation and dialogue, the acknowledgement of the equal value of three forms of knowledge and capacity building, learning organizations and shared responsibility.We also reflect on the unusual role of the researcher in empowerment research. Rather than being “the” expert as an outsider, who positions himself/herself above all other stakeholders, the researcher is “just” one of the parties involved, who

Empowerment and occupational engagement among people with psychiatric disabilities.

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Hultqvist, Jenny; Eklund, Mona; Leufstadius, Christel

2015-01-01

Empowerment is essential in the rehabilitation process for people with psychiatric disabilities and knowledge about factors that may play a key role within this process would be valuable for further development of the day centre services. The present study investigates day centre attendees' perceptions of empowerment. The aim was to investigate which factors show the strongest relationships to empowerment when considering occupational engagement, client satisfaction with day centres, and health-related and socio-demographic factors as correlates. 123 Swedish day centre attendees participated in a cross-sectional study by completing questionnaires regarding empowerment and the targeted correlates. Data were analysed with non-parametric statistics. Empowerment was shown to be significantly correlated with occupational engagement and client satisfaction and also with self-rated health and symptoms rated by a research assistant. The strongest indicator for belonging to the group with the highest ratings on empowerment was self-rated health, followed by occupational engagement and symptom severity. Occupational engagement added to the beneficial influence of self-rated health on empowerment. Enabling occupational engagement in meaningful activities and providing occupations that can generate client satisfaction is an important focus for day centres in order to assist the attendees' rehabilitation process so that it promotes empowerment.

Youth Empowerment and High School Gay-Straight Alliances

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Russell, Stephen T.; Muraco, Anna; Subramaniam, Aarti; Laub, Carolyn

2009-01-01

In the field of positive youth development programs, “empowerment” is used interchangeably with youth activism, leadership, civic participation and self-efficacy. However, few studies have captured what empowerment means to young people in diverse contexts. This article explores how youth define and experience empowerment in youth-led organizations characterized by social justice goals: high school Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs). Through focus group interviews, fifteen youth leaders of GSAs fr...

Join the Art Club: Exploring Social Empowerment in Art Therapy

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Morris, Frances Johanna; Willis-Rauch, Mallori

2014-01-01

Social Empowerment Art Therapy (SEAT) aims to address the stigma of mental illness through the artistic empowerment of participants. The model was developed within an inpatient psychiatric setting from observations of a shared governance structure that empowered residents. Incorporating an open art studio approach and social action art therapy,…

Empowerment evaluation of a Swedish gender equity plan

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Georgios Gavriilidis

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Background: Empowerment is essential for gender equity and health. The city of Malmö, Sweden, has formulated a development plan for gender equity integration (GEIDP. A ‘Policy Empowerment Index’ (PEI was previously developed to assess the empowerment potential of policies. Objectives: To pilot-evaluate the GEIDP's potential for empowerment and to test the PEI for future policy evaluations. Design: The GEIDP was analyzed and scored according to electronically retrieved evidence on constituent opinion, participation, capacity development, evaluation–adaptation, and impact. Results: The plan's PEI score was 64% (CI: 48–78 and was classified as ‘enabling’, ranging between ‘enabling’ and ‘supportive’. The plan's strengths were: 1 constituent knowledge and concern; 2 peripheral implementation; 3 protection of vulnerable groups; and 4 evaluation/adaptation procedures. It scored average on: 1 policy agenda setting; 2 planning; 3 provisions for education; 4 network formation; 5 resource mobilization. The weakest point was regarding promotion of employment and entrepreneurship. Conclusions: The PEI evaluation highlighted the plan's potential of constituency empowerment and proposed how it could be augmented.

Empowerment: a goal or a means for health promotion?

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Tengland, Per-Anders

2007-06-01

Empowerment is a concept that has been much used and discussed for a number of years. However, it is not always explicitly clarified what its central meaning is. The present paper intends to clarify what empowerment means, and relate it to the goals of health promotion. The paper starts with the claim that health-related quality of life is the ultimate general goal for health promotion, and continues by briefly presenting definitions of some central concepts: "welfare", "health" and "quality of life". Several suggestions as to what empowerment is are then discussed: autonomy, freedom, knowledge, self-esteem, self-confidence, and control over health or life. One conclusion of this discussion is that empowerment can be seen as a complex goal which includes aspects of the three central concepts welfare, health and quality of life. To the extent that the empowerment goals aimed at are health-related, it is concluded that empowerment is a legitimate goal for health promotion. But empowerment is not only a goal, it can also be described as a process or as an approach. This process, or approach, in a fundamental way involves the participants in problem formulation, decision making and action, which means that the experts have to relinquish some of their control and power.

Teacher Empowerment: School Administrators' Roles

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Balyer, Aydin; Özcan, Kenan; Yildiz, Ali

2017-01-01

Purpose: Teacher empowerment involves investing teachers with the right to participate in the determination of school goals and policies as informed by their professional judgment. By empowering teachers, teachers can discover their potential and limitations for themselves as well as developing competence in their professional development. This…

Exploring the effect of sexual empowerment on sexual decision making in female adolescents.

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Hsu, Hsiu-Yueh; Lien, Yu-Fen; Lou, Jiunn-Horng; Chen, Sheng-Hwang; Wang, Ruey-Hsia

2010-03-01

Traditional health education may not provide adequate sexual information to female adolescents. Sexual health education for female adolescents broadens opportunities for nurses to help female adolescents adopt appropriate sexual attitudes and make appropriate decisions. The purpose of this study was to understand the effect of sexual empowerment on sexual decision making in female adolescents. Twenty-nine female students with steady boyfriends were invited to participate in a sexual empowerment course. Course activities specifically related to sexual empowerment were audio-tape-recorded. Dialogue content was analyzed, and content provided by each study participant was reconfirmed in face-to-face interviews to understand the entire empowerment process in terms of how such may affect responses and to assess the possibility of correctly reinterpreting findings during the member check process. This study also took into consideration degrees of reliability and rigorousness. The four themes found to underlie participant perceptions of their sexual empowerment to make sex-related decisions were as follows: (a) proactively seeking sexual knowledge, (b) reexamining relationships with boyfriends, (c) the right to say "no" and to engage in self-protection, and (d) the need to change sexual attitudes and behaviors. Using the peer group intervention in sexual empowerment may positively impact sexual health decision making in adolescent girls. Nursing professionals may consider peer group intervention as a sexual empowering method in healthcare.

Revisiting the Impact of Perceived Empowerment on Job Performance: Results from Front-Line Employees

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Ozgur Devrim Yilmaz

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This study was conducted to examine the probable effect of perceived empowerment on job performance and the sample of research consisted of 230 participants working in tourism sector as front-line employees. The outcomes of this study indicated that psychological empowerment was positively correlated with employee job performance and employees’ job performance were mostly effected from self-determination and impact dimensions of empowerment. Moreover, tests were conducted to analyze the significant differences in participants’ perception of empowerment and job performance according to their demographic characteristics. There was a significant difference between perceived empowerment and gender, age and work experience where as there was no significant difference between empowerment and education levels. On the other hand, the relationship between job performance and work experience was supported however no relationship was found between job performance and gender, age and education level of the participants. Trying to find out what might possibly lead front-line employees to increased job performance, it can be claimed that psychological empowerment still turns out to be a central issue and therefore this research makes useful contributions to the current knowledge by entirely investigating the direct effect of perceived empowerment on employee job performance in hospitality industry where especially front-line employees spend most of their time directly with customers.

Empowerment in people with COPD

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Disler RT

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Rebecca T Disler,1–3 Jessica Appleton,1 Tracy A Smith,4,5 Matthew Hodson,6 Sally C Inglis,1,2 DorAnne Donesky,7 Patricia M Davidson8 1Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, 2Centre for Cardiovascular and Chronic Care, Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, 3Improving Palliative Care through Clinical Trials (ImPACCT, Sydney, 4Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Westmead Hospital, Westmead, 5Faculty of Medicine, University of NSW, Sydney, NSW, Australia; 6ACERS, Integrated Medicine and Rehabilitation Services Division, Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK; 7Department of Physiological Nursing, UCSF School of Nursing, San Francisco, CA, 8School of Nursing, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA Background: Patient empowerment is recognized as an important aspect of chronic disease management. There is an increasing expectation that health providers engage patients as active participants in their own self-management. This engagement is crucial to the chronic care model as patients with COPD and their families manage the majority of the care in the community. Understanding what influences empowerment will help health care professionals to better engage in collaborative care planning and decision making that meet the needs of this new generation of health consumers. Aim: The aim of the present study was to identify interventions or approaches that empower patients in the management of COPD. Methods: An integrative review was undertaken following the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses approach. Papers were included if they 1 provided a definition or conceptualization of empowerment, and 2 reported interventions or approaches fostering empowerment in patients with COPD. Thematic analysis was used to develop conceptual themes on patient empowerment in COPD. These conceptual themes were validated by a panel of specialists in COPD, chronic disease

Responsive consumerism: empowerment in markets for health plans.

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Elbel, Brian; Schlesinger, Mark

2009-09-01

American health policy is increasingly relying on consumerism to improve its performance. This article examines a neglected aspect of medical consumerism: the extent to which consumers respond to problems with their health plans. Using a telephone survey of five thousand consumers conducted in 2002, this article assesses how frequently consumers voice formal grievances or exit from their health plan in response to problems of differing severity. This article also examines the potential impact of this responsiveness on both individuals and the market. In addition, using cross-group comparisons of means and regressions, it looks at how the responses of "empowered" consumers compared with those who are "less empowered." The vast majority of consumers do not formally voice their complaints or exit health plans, even in response to problems with significant consequences. "Empowered" consumers are only minimally more likely to formally voice and no more likely to leave their plan. Moreover, given the greater prevalence of trivial problems, consumers are much more likely to complain or leave their plans because of problems that are not severe. Greater empowerment does not alleviate this. While much of the attention on consumerism has focused on prospective choice, understanding how consumers respond to problems is equally, if not more, important. Relying on consumers' responses as a means to protect individual consumers or influence the market for health plans is unlikely to be successful in its current form.

Structural empowerment and burnout among Portuguese nursing staff: An explicative model.

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Orgambídez-Ramos, Alejandro; Borrego-Alés, Yolanda; Vázquez-Aguado, Octavio; March-Amegual, Jaume

2017-11-01

Kanter's structural empowerment model was used to assess the influence of access to opportunities, resources, information and support on core burnout through global empowerment in a nursing sample in Portugal. The empowerment experience increases the levels of nursing professionals' satisfaction and performance preventing the emergence of burnout. However, the relationship between structural empowerment and burnout has been scarcely studied in Portugal. We conducted a cross-sectional correlational study assessing a final sample of 297 participants (62.13% response rate, 63.64% women). Model fit and mediation test were examined using structural equation modelling (path analysis). Access to opportunities and access to support had direct impact, through global empowerment, on core burnout, whereas access to resources had both direct and indirect impact on core burnout. The results validated the structural empowerment model and its application in nursing staff in Portugal. Professional training plans, the development of formal and informal support networks, and the availability of resources increase the levels of empowerment and decrease the likelihood of experiencing burnout in nursing professionals. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Giving voice to the voiceless through deliberative democratic school governance

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Nonceba Mabovula

2009-05-01

Full Text Available I focus on the role of learners in the governance of secondary schools. I seek to promote a voice for learner expression as guaranteed in the national Department of Education's guidelines for Representative Council of Learners as part of promoting democratic governance. The potential, limitations, constraints, conse­quen­ces, and challenges facing learners in the school governance structure need to be revealed and debated. The views of school principals were solicited by means of unstructured open-ended questionnaires. Six problem areas emerged from the data. The irony is that although the democratisation of school governance has given all stakeholders a powerful voice in school affairs, learners' voices are, seemingly, being silenced. In attempting to resolve the problem, a new model of democratic school governance to be known as 'deliberative democratic school governance' (DDSG is suggested. There are several DDSG approaches that can be employed in creating elements for stakeholder empowerment and in driving deliberative democratic school governance forward. These include inclusion, motivational communication, consensus, deliberation/ dialogue, collaboration, and conflict resolution. Some school governance stake­holders and schools may use only one or a few of these strategies to create spaces for learner voices in their respective schools.

Self-stigma and empowerment in combined-CMHA and consumer-run services: two controlled trials.

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Segal, Steven P; Silverman, Carol J; Temkin, Tanya L

2013-10-01

Self-help agencies (SHAs) are consumer-operated service organizations managed as participatory democracies involving members in all management tasks. Hierarchically organized board- and staff-run consumer-operated service programs (BSR-COSPs) are consumer managed, but they afford members less decision-making power. This study considered the relative effectiveness of SHAs and BSR-COSPs working jointly with community mental health agencies (CMHAs) and the role of organizational empowerment in reducing self-stigma. Clients seeking CMHA services were assigned in separate randomized controlled trials to a trial of combined SHA and CMHA services versus regular CMHA services (N=505) or to a trial of combined BSR-COSP and CMHA services versus regular CMHA services (N=139). Self-stigma, organizational empowerment, and self-efficacy were assessed at baseline and eight months with the Attitudes Toward Persons With Mental Illness Scale, the Organizationally Mediated Empowerment Scale, and the Self-Efficacy Scale. Outcomes were evaluated with fully recursive path analysis models. SHA-CMHA participants experienced greater positive change in self-stigma than CMHA-only participants, a result attributable to participation in the combined condition (b=1.20, p=.016) and increased organizational empowerment (b=.27, p=.003). BSR-COSP-CMHA participants experienced greater negative change in self-stigma than CMHA-only participants, a result attributable to participation in the combined service (b=-4.73, p=.031). In the SHA-CMHA trial, participants showed positive change in self-efficacy, whereas the change among BSR-COSP-CMHA participants was negative. Differential organizational empowerment efforts in the SHA and BSR-COSP appeared to account for the differing outcomes. Members experienced reduced self-stigma and increases in self-efficacy when they were engaged in responsible roles.

Home health care nurses' perceptions of empowerment.

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Williamson, Kathleen M

2007-01-01

This exploratory study involved the triangulation of qualitative (interview and observation) and quantitative methods (Psychological Empowerment Instrument). This study examined the individual home care nurses' perception of empowerment and how it influences decisions in the home clinical setting. Fifteen nurses were self-selected to participate. All completed an interview, and were observed and given Likert Instrument to complete. A framework analysis was performed to identify mutually exclusive and exhaustive emergent themes and patterns within the data. Home care nurses described that enpowerment is in the interaction between nurse and patient, and nurse and health care provider. Empowered is defined as being independent, confident, trusting, and comfortable with providing quality care. Home health care nurses believe that having the ability to practice collaboratively and build professional relationships was essential. Nurses in this study perceived empowerment as having meaning, choice, and competence in their job.

Empowerment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Maja Lundemark

2015-01-01

et inspirationspapir om empowerment som tilgang i det beskæftigelsesrettede arbejde - især til regioner og kommuner og med henblik på samarbejde mellem professionelle og borgere......et inspirationspapir om empowerment som tilgang i det beskæftigelsesrettede arbejde - især til regioner og kommuner og med henblik på samarbejde mellem professionelle og borgere...

Patient empowerment and hand hygiene, 1997-2012.

Science.gov (United States)

McGuckin, M; Govednik, J

2013-07-01

Multi-modal hand hygiene programmes that include patient empowerment are promoted as a necessary component of hand hygiene compliance. However, the question still remains, do we have enough information to determine if, and under what conditions, patients will be able to play an immediate role in healthcare workers' hand hygiene behaviour? To review the current literature on patient willingness to be empowered, barriers to empowerment, and hand hygiene programmes that include patient empowerment and hand hygiene improvement. A Medline (Ovid) search of all English-language papers for 1997-2007 and 2008-2012 was conducted using the following keywords alone and in various combinations: 'patient participation', 'involvement', 'empowerment', 'education', 'decision-making', 'professional-patient relations', 'behavioural change', 'culture of safety', 'social marketing', 'consumer awareness', 'leadership', 'institutional climate', 'hand hygiene' and 'patient reminders'. The 1997-2007 review was conducted as part of the World Health Organization's Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care, and updated with the 2008-2012 review. Several studies show that, in principle, patients are willing to be empowered. However, there is variation in the actual number of patients that practice empowerment for hand hygiene, ranging from 5% to 80%. The actual performance of patient empowerment can be increased when a patient is given explicit permission by a healthcare worker. There is ongoing support from patients that they are willing to be empowered. There is a need to develop programmes that empower both healthcare workers and patients so that they become more comfortable in their roles. Copyright © 2013 The Healthcare Infection Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Computer-aided voice training in higher education: participants ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The training of performance singing in a multi lingual, multi cultural educational context presents unique problems and requires inventive teaching strategies. Computer-aided training offers objective visual feedback of the voice production that can be implemented as a teaching aid in higher education. This article reports on ...

The effect of a psychological empowerment program based on psychodrama on empowerment perception and burnout levels in oncology nurses: Psychological empowerment in oncology nurses.

Science.gov (United States)

Özbaş, Azize Atli; Tel, Havva

2016-08-01

Oncology nursing is stressful by its nature, and nurses in the field experience a high amount of stress and burnout. In order to cope with occupational stress, nurses need to employ flexible adjustment mechanisms that allow them the power to process their experiences. Failure of efficient stress management causes burnout, and burnout is closely related to powerlessness. It is therefore believed that the occurrence of burnout can be reduced by means of psychological empowerment of nurses. Our study was conducted to determine the effect of a "psychodrama-based psychological empowerment program" on (1) the perception of empowerment and (2) the levels of burnout in oncology nurses. The sample was made up of 82 oncology nurses (38 nurses in the study group and 44 in the control/comparison group). Study data were collected using the Psychological Empowerment Scale, the Nurse Work Empowerment Scale, and Maslach's Burnout Inventory. The study group attended a "psychodrama-based psychological empowerment program" (2 hours, 1 day a week, for 10 weeks). For data assessment, we employed an independent t test and one-way analysis of variance. The psychological empowerment and workplace empowerment scores of nurses in the study group increased and their burnout scores decreased following attendance in the psychodrama-based psychological empowerment program. We found that the psychodrama-based psychological empowerment program increased psychological empowerment and enhanced perception of workplace empowerment while decreasing levels of burnout in oncology nurses. The program is recommended and should allow oncology nurses to benefit from their personal experiences and thus increase self-empowerment, to enhance their perception of empowerment, and to prevent burnout.

Empowerment Program for People With Prediabetes: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Mei-Fang; Hung, Shu-Ling; Chen, Shu-Lin

2017-04-01

Practicing a health-promoting lifestyle is believed to be effective for delaying or preventing the onset of diabetes. However, although empowerment interventions have proven effective for encouraging the adoption of a health-promoting lifestyle in people with diabetes, these interventions are rarely promoted to people with prediabetes. The aims of this study were to develop an empowerment program for people with prediabetes and to examine its efficacy in terms of the adoption of a health-promoting lifestyle and improvements in blood sugar, body mass index, and self-efficacy. A randomized controlled trial was conducted between May and December 2013. A convenience sample of people with a fasting blood sugar level of 100-125 mg/dl during the previous 3 months was recruited from the health examination center of a hospital in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Participants were assigned to either the experimental group or the control group using block randomization with a block size of 8. The experimental group (n = 38) participated in a 4-month empowerment program (the ABC empowerment program), which encouraged participants to practice a health-promoting lifestyle in three phases: awareness raising, behavior building, and results checking. The control group (n = 40) received routine clinical care. Statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, independent t test, paired t test, and generalized estimated equations. After controlling for the differences at baseline and considering the interaction between group and time from baseline to 1 week and 3 months after completing the intervention, the generalized estimating equation showed significantly larger improvements in a health-promoting lifestyle, blood sugar, and self-efficacy in the experimental group than in the control group (p empowerment program was shown to have short-term, positive effects on behavioral, physical, and psychosocial outcomes in a Taiwan population with prediabetes. The results of this study provide a useful

Evaluation of Changes in Individual Community-Related Empowerment in Community Health Promotion Interventions in Estonia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pernille Tanggaard

2011-05-01

Full Text Available This study assessed changes in community members’ ratings of the dimensions of individual community related empowerment (ICRE before and two years after the implementation of an empowerment expansion framework in three community health promotion initiatives within the Estonian context. We employed a self-administered questionnaire, the adapted mobilisation scale–individual. As the first step, we investigated the multidimensional nature of the ICRE construct and explored the validity and reliability (internal consistency of the ICRE scale. Two datasets were used. The first dataset comprised a cross-sectional random sample of 1,000 inhabitants of Rapla County selected in 2003 from the National Population Register, which was used to confirm the composition of the dimensions of the scale and to examine the reliability of the dimensions. The second dataset comprised two waves of data: 120 participants from three health promotion programs in 2003 (pre-test and 115 participants in 2005 (post-test, and the dataset was used to compare participants’ pre-test and post-test ratings of their levels of empowerment. The content validity ratio, determined using Lawshe’s formula, was high (0.98. Five dimensions of ICRE, self-efficacy, intention, participation, motivation and critical awareness, emerged from the factor analysis. The internal consistency (α of the total empowerment scale was 0.86 (subscales self-efficacy α = 0.88, intention α = 0.83, participation α = 0.81 and motivation α = 0.69; critical awareness comprised only one item. The levels of ICRE dimensions measured after the application of the empowerment expansion framework were significantly more favourable for the dimensions self-efficacy, participation, intention and motivation to participate. We conclude that for Rapla community workgroups and networks, their ICRE was rendered more favourable after the implementation of the empowerment expansion framework.

A pilot study of the relations within which hearing voices participates: Towards a functional distinction between voice hearers and controls

NARCIS (Netherlands)

McEnteggart, C.; Barnes-Holmes, Y.; Egger, J.I.M.; Barnes-Holmes, D.

2016-01-01

The current research used the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) as a preliminary step toward bringing a broad, functional approach to understanding psychosis, by focusing on the specific phenomenon of auditory hallucinations of voices and sounds (often referred to as hearing voices).

Empowerment for healthy nutrition in German communities: a study framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Brandstetter, Susanne; Curbach, Janina; Lindacher, Verena; Rueter, Jana; Warrelmann, Berit; Loss, Julika

2017-06-01

Empowerment is seen as a key strategy for sustainable health promotion efforts. However, there is only limited research on how to link the empowerment approach to the promotion of healthy eating, which is a major current public health issue. The article presents the development of a study framework for implementing and evaluating an empowerment intervention for healthy nutrition. This framework was created for a community intervention study meaning to involve elderly citizens in Bavaria, Germany. The study protocol was developed in an iterative process basing on (i) literature reviews on the topics empowerment in relation to healthy nutrition and mixed-methods evaluation, (ii) workshops with empowerment and public health experts and (iii) consultations with local community representatives. Through these measures we identified good practice criteria as well as specific challenges of integrating empowerment and healthy nutrition, e.g. engaging people in healthy nutrition, reconciling participants' nutrition preferences with public health nutrition priorities and evaluating bottom-up activities in the community. Consequences for the study design were deducted from the literature and the consultations, e.g. practical recommendations as to how power could be gradually assigned to group members. A qualitative mixed-method evaluation design was chosen to capture emergent empowerment processes. The study framework presented here is the first on empowerment and nutrition to provide explicit guidance on how empowerment may be applied to healthy nutrition and implemented and evaluated in the community context. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The Influence of Exercise Empowerment on Life Stress

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tonya M. Parker

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Background: Psychological stress – when an individual perceives that the environment exceeds their ability to meet the demands placed on them - is common in college students and exercise, and specifically instructional physical activity courses, is frequently cited as a one method of stress reduction. Objective: Determine any relationship between exercise empowerment and perceived life stress for those participating in instructional physical activity courses (IPAC. Methods: All undergraduate students (n = 3388 enrolled in IPAC in 15-week IPAC at a large university were surveyed on perceived life stress (PSS, empowerment in exercise (EES, and specific demographic variables. Results: 944 of 3388 enrolled students (Nov. 2015, April 2016 completed the survey. The data revealed GPA (p < 0.002, sex (p < 0.000, and EES (p < 0.001 showed differences for PSS. It was determined that EES, sex, and GPA predicted PSS differently for students according to their year in college. Conclusions: For freshman and seniors, sex and lower GPA were a stronger predictor of PSS with no mitigating effect of exercise empowerment. For sophomores and juniors the level of life stress was lower at higher levels of exercise empowerment. These findings support a complex relationship between exercise empowerment and life stress. While exercise is cited as a method for stress reduction the relationship between exercise empowerment and life stress for college-aged students is not as straightforward as it may seem.

Linking Social Cohesion and Gender to Intrapersonal and Interactional Empowerment: Support and New Implications for Theory

Science.gov (United States)

Peterson, N. Andrew; Lowe, John B.; Aquilino, Mary L.; Schneider, John E.

2005-01-01

Empowerment is a social-action process through which people gain greater control, efficacy, and social justice. One way to develop empowerment is through active, meaningful participation in community groups and activities. Social cohesion is an emerging construct that expands the notion of community participation to include elements such as shared…

Consumer and case manager perspectives of service empowerment: relationship to mental health recovery.

Science.gov (United States)

Crane-Ross, Dushka; Lutz, Wilma J; Roth, Dee

2006-04-01

This study examines the relationship between service empowerment and recovery. Service empowerment is defined as the extent to which consumers participate in service decisions and the level of reciprocity and respect within the relationship with their case managers. Assessments were made from two perspectives: consumers and their case managers. Structural equation models were developed to examine the direct and indirect effects of service empowerment on four recovery outcomes: Quality of Life, Level of Functioning, Consumer-Reported Symptomatology, and Case Manager-Reported Symptomatology. Consumers' perceptions of service empowerment were the most powerful predictor of recovery outcomes across the four models. Consumers' and case managers' perceptions were related but the magnitude of the relationship was small, indicating that considerable differences exist between their perceptions of service empowerment.

Empowerment and Education. A historical study into the determinants of global educational participation of women, ca. 1850-2010

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vleuten, L. van der

2016-01-01

The research ‘Empowerment and Education’ focuses on global inequalities in the progress of education in relation to empowerment of women in the period 1850 to 2010. My thesis starts with a number of broader reasons for differences in education (including school attendance laws, child labor laws and

Enhancing Women's Economic Empowerment Through Better ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Uneducated and poor women participate less in paid work. ... There remains a key gap, however. ... The region has expanded social protection programs, yet how these programs support women's economic empowerment and labour ... Innovation. Solutions. Careers · Contact Us · Site map. Sign up now for IDRC news and ...

Empowerment: a Concept Analysis

OpenAIRE

Febriana, Dara

2011-01-01

This paper conceptually analyzed the concept of empowerment using the strategies of Walker & Avant (2005) the objective is to clarify the meaning of the concept and to clearly identify empowerment characteristic that will provide consistent definition for practice and future research. Empowerment is defined and examined using relevant resources of literatures and selected empirical referents that described empowerment as a complex and multidimensional concept. Within nursing context empowerme...

A Review on Dalith Women Empowerment in India

Science.gov (United States)

Ramaiah, Kollapudi; Nagamani, K.; Latchaiah, P.; Kishore, Mendam

2015-01-01

Empowerment is the expansion of asserts and capabilities of poor people to participate in negotiate with influence, control and hold accountable institutions that affect their lives. Education is one of the important sources of empowering women with the knowledge, skill and self confidence necessary to participate fully in the development process.…

Stated product formulation preferences for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis among women in the VOICE-D (MTN-003D) study.

Science.gov (United States)

Luecke, Ellen H; Cheng, Helen; Woeber, Kubashni; Nakyanzi, Teopista; Mudekunye-Mahaka, Imelda C; van der Straten, Ariane

2016-01-01

The effectiveness of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) requires consistent and correct product use, thus a deeper understanding of women's stated product formulation preferences, and the correlates of those preferences, can help guide future research. VOICE-D (MTN-003D), a qualitative ancillary study conducted after the VOICE trial, retrospectively explored participants' tablet and gel use, as well as their preferences for other potential PrEP product formulations. We conducted an analysis of quantitative and qualitative data from VOICE-D participants. During in-depth interviews, women were presented with pictures and descriptions of eight potential PrEP product formulations, including the oral tablet and vaginal gel tested in VOICE, and asked to discuss which product formulations they would prefer to use and why. Seven of the original product formulations displayed were combined into preferred product formulation categories based on exploratory factor and latent class analyses. We examined demographic and behavioural correlates of these preferred product formulation categories. In-depth interviews with participants were conducted, coded, and analysed for themes related to product preference. Of the 68 female participants who completed in-depth interviews (22 South Africa, 24 Zimbabwe, 22 Uganda), median age was 28 (range 21-41), 81% were HIV negative, and 49% were married or living with a partner. Four preferred product formulation categories were identified via exploratory factor analysis: 1) oral tablets; 2) vaginal gel; 3) injectable, implant, or vaginal ring; and 4) vaginal film or suppository. A majority of women (81%) expressed a preference for product formulations included in category 3. Characteristics significantly associated with each preferred product category differed. Attributes described by participants as being important in a preferred product formulation included duration of activity, ease of use, route of administration, clinic- versus self

Shielding voices: The modulation of binding processes between voice features and response features by task representations.

Science.gov (United States)

Bogon, Johanna; Eisenbarth, Hedwig; Landgraf, Steffen; Dreisbach, Gesine

2017-09-01

Vocal events offer not only semantic-linguistic content but also information about the identity and the emotional-motivational state of the speaker. Furthermore, most vocal events have implications for our actions and therefore include action-related features. But the relevance and irrelevance of vocal features varies from task to task. The present study investigates binding processes for perceptual and action-related features of spoken words and their modulation by the task representation of the listener. Participants reacted with two response keys to eight different words spoken by a male or a female voice (Experiment 1) or spoken by an angry or neutral male voice (Experiment 2). There were two instruction conditions: half of participants learned eight stimulus-response mappings by rote (SR), and half of participants applied a binary task rule (TR). In both experiments, SR instructed participants showed clear evidence for binding processes between voice and response features indicated by an interaction between the irrelevant voice feature and the response. By contrast, as indicated by a three-way interaction with instruction, no such binding was found in the TR instructed group. These results are suggestive of binding and shielding as two adaptive mechanisms that ensure successful communication and action in a dynamic social environment.

Diagnostic value of voice acoustic analysis in assessment of occupational voice pathologies in teachers.

Science.gov (United States)

Niebudek-Bogusz, Ewa; Fiszer, Marta; Kotylo, Piotr; Sliwinska-Kowalska, Mariola

2006-01-01

It has been shown that teachers are at risk of developing occupational dysphonia, which accounts for over 25% of all occupational diseases diagnosed in Poland. The most frequently used method of diagnosing voice diseases is videostroboscopy. However, to facilitate objective evaluation of voice efficiency as well as medical certification of occupational voice disorders, it is crucial to implement quantitative methods of voice assessment, particularly voice acoustic analysis. The aim of the study was to assess the results of acoustic analysis in 66 female teachers (aged 40-64 years), including 35 subjects with occupational voice pathologies (e.g., vocal nodules) and 31 subjects with functional dysphonia. The acoustic analysis was performed using the IRIS software, before and after a 30-minute vocal loading test. All participants were subjected also to laryngological and videostroboscopic examinations. After the vocal effort, the acoustic parameters displayed statistically significant abnormalities, mostly lowered fundamental frequency (Fo) and incorrect values of shimmer and noise to harmonic ratio. To conclude, quantitative voice acoustic analysis using the IRIS software seems to be an effective complement to voice examinations, which is particularly helpful in diagnosing occupational dysphonia.

An empowerment framework for nursing leadership development: supporting evidence.

Science.gov (United States)

Macphee, Maura; Skelton-Green, Judith; Bouthillette, France; Suryaprakash, Nitya

2012-01-01

This article is a report on a descriptive study of nurse leaders' perspectives of the outcomes of a formal leadership programme. Effective nurse leaders are necessary to address complex issues associated with healthcare systems reforms. Little is known about the types of leadership development programmes that most effectively prepare nurse leaders for healthcare challenges. When nurse leaders use structural and psychological empowerment strategies, the results are safer work environments and better nurse outcomes. The leadership development programme associated with this study is based on a unifying theoretical empowerment framework to empower nurse leaders and enable them to empower others. Twenty seven front-line and mid-level nurse leaders with variable years of experience were interviewed for 1 year after participating in a formal leadership development programme. Data were gathered in 2008-2009 from four programme cohorts. Four researchers independently developed code categories and themes using qualitative content analysis. Evidence of leadership development programme empowerment included nurse leader reports of increased self-confidence with respect to carrying out their roles and responsibilities; positive changes in their leadership styles; and perceptions of staff recognition of positive stylistic changes. Regardless of years of experience, mid-level leaders had a broader appreciation of practice environment issues than front-line leaders. Time for reflection was valuable to all participants, and front-line leaders, in particular, appreciated the time to discuss nurse-specific issues with their colleagues. This study provides evidence that a theoretical empowerment framework and strategies can empower nurse leaders, potentially resulting in staff empowerment. © 2011 The Authors. Journal of Advanced Nursing © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Urban caregiver empowerment: Caregiver nativity, child asthma symptoms and emergency department use

Science.gov (United States)

Coutinho, Maria Teresa; Kopel, Sheryl J.; Williams, Brittney; Dansereau, Katie; Koinis-Mitchell, Daphne

2016-01-01

Introduction This study examines the associations between caregiver empowerment, child asthma symptoms, and emergency department use in a sample of school aged urban children with asthma. We examined differences in caregiver empowerment, and in the associations among caregiver empowerment, proportion of days with child asthma symptoms, and emergency department use as a function of caregiver nativity. Methods Participants for this study were part of a larger longitudinal study and included Latino, African American and non-Latino White urban caregivers and their children with asthma (ages 7–9; N=130). Caregiver empowerment was assessed within family, asthma services, and community domains. Results Children whose caregivers reported greater empowerment within the family (knowledge and ability to care for their family) presented with fewer asthma symptoms. Children whose caregivers reported greater empowerment within asthma services (ability to collaborate with asthma providers and healthcare system), presented with more asthma symptoms. Foreign-born caregivers endorsed greater empowerment within the family, while US-born caregivers reported greater empowerment within asthma services. For foreign-born caregivers, higher levels of empowerment in the family were associated with fewer child asthma symptoms. For US-born caregivers, higher levels of empowerment in asthma services were associated with more child asthma symptoms. Discussion Results suggest that caregivers who feel more confident and better able to manage problems within their family may better manage their child's asthma more effectively navigate the asthma healthcare system and manage their child's asthma. PMID:27632543

Dealing with nuclear-related emotions: an investigation of the despair and empowerment process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lilly-Weber, J.M.

1986-01-01

The main goal of this study was to determine the short-term and follow-up effectiveness of despair and empowerment workshops. Such workshops are designed to encourage the expression of feelings related to the nuclear threat (as well as other planetary issues), and to generate a greater sense of personal powerfulness. Results were as follows. At pretest, experimental workshop participants reported a significantly lower level of nuclear-related denial, and were found to be significantly more politically active than control participants. When controlling for these pretest differences, no significant differences were found across conditions at post-test or follow-up. In addition, experimental workshop participants were found to report significantly more powerfulness than nonworkshop control participants at post-test, but no significant post-test differences were found between the two workshop conditions. Open ended evaluation questions, asked only of experimental workshop participants, suggested that most participants responded favorably to the despair and empowerment workshops - particularly in reference to being given the opportunity to express their nuclear-related concerns and to feel supported by others. In summary, this study provides some evidence, despite mixed results, of the effectiveness of despair and empowerment workshops

Collaborative learning using VoiceThread in an online graduate course

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yu-Hui Ching

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Collaborative learning enables participants in a learning community to externalize and share knowledge, experiences, and practice. However, collaborative learning in an online environment can be challenging due to the lack of face-to face interaction. This current study examined twenty graduate students’ experiences of using VoiceThread for a collaborative activity in an entirely online course to explore students’ perceptions of using multi-modal communication for collaboration and knowledge sharing. The results of this study revealed that graduate students had very positive experiences toward using VoiceThread for collaborative learning. The participants found VoiceThread easy to learn and use, and reported that audio and video interaction on VoiceThread helped connect them with their peers. More than half of the participants interacted with peers using audio, followed by text and then by video. Half of the students felt they were more connected to peers; however, feeling more connected did not result in more participation as most of the students only participated at the level that met the course requirement. Participants identified benefits and drawbacks of using VoiceThread for collaboration as compared to using text-based discussion forums. The most frequently mentioned benefit of using VoiceThread for collaboration exemplifies its multi-modal affordance that enables learners to communicate emotion, personality, and other non-verbal cues conducive to better understanding and interpretation of meanings. About half of the participants indicated that they preferred VoiceThread to text-based discussion forums for collaborative learning activity. Challenges and implications for future research are also discussed.

Subject to empowerment: the constitution of power in an educational program for health professionals.

Science.gov (United States)

Juritzen, Truls I; Engebretsen, Eivind; Heggen, Kristin

2013-08-01

Empowerment and user participation represents an ideal of power with a strong position in the health sector. In this article we use text analysis to investigate notions of power in a program plan for health workers focusing on empowerment. Issues addressed include: How are relationships of power between users and helpers described in the program plan? Which notions of user participation are embedded in the plan? The analysis is based on Foucault's idea that power which is made subject to attempts of redistribution will re-emerge in other forms. How this happens, and with what consequences, is our analytical concern. The analysis is contrasted with 'snapshots' from everyday life in a nursing home. The program plan communicates empowerment as a democracy-building instrument that the users need. It is a tool for providing expert assistance to the user's self-help. User participation is made into a tool which is external to the user him-/herself. Furthermore, the analysis shows that the plan's image of empowerment presupposes an 'élite user' able to articulate personal needs and desires. This is not very applicable to the most vulnerable user groups, who thereby may end up in an even weaker position. By way of conclusion, we argue that an exchange of undesirable dominating paternalism for a desirable empowerment will not abolish power, but may result in more covert and subtle forms of power that are less open to criticism. The paper offers insights that will facilitate reflections on the premises for practising empowerment-oriented health care.

Structural empowerment and work–family fit in nurses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Agnieszka Orłowska

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Background: The goal of the study was to investigate the relationship between structural empowerment and work–family fit in Polish nurses. Structural empowerment is a strategy for managing by providing the employees with opportunities, information, support and resources essential for the effective performance of work duties. Work–family fit takes 2 forms of relationships between these 2 spheres: conflict (functioning in one role is more difficult because of participation in the other role and facilitation (fulfilling the duties associated with one role enriches filling up the other role. Material and Methods: A total of 159 nurses employed in hospitals took part in the study. The Polish versions of the Conditions of Work Effectiveness Questionnaire and the Work–Family Fit Questionnaire were used. Hierarchical linear regression analysis was applied for data analysis. Results: The results show statistically signifficant relationships between structural empowerment and work–family fit in nurses. In the hospital environment, characterized by a high degree of empowerment, nurses experience a lower level of work–family conflict and a higher level of facilitation in both directions. Conclusions: Hospital management strategy based on structural empowerment of nurses favors reconciliation of professional and family roles. Therefore, it is important for hospitals to create appropriate working conditions that allow nurses to effectively deal with demands arising from work and family spheres. Med Pr 2016;67(6:787–800

Participatory evaluation of community actions as a learning methodology for personal and community empowerment: case studies and empowerment processes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xavier Úcar Martínez

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Participatory evaluation (PE is a hybrid methodology that can be used simultaneously to investigate and act in groups and communities. It can generate new knowledge about reality, but italso allows changes in the participants and their sociocultural context. This research project, developed over three years, aims to find out whether PE processes are useful and appropriate to evaluate community actionsand to generate learning that contribute to the empowerment of people who develop them.Method: The methodological structure of the research process design Participatory Evaluation processes that are applied in three selected communities-cases, over one year. The steering groups in each caseevaluated four dimensions of Community Development Plans: context, evolution, performance and results, using different techniques and group dynamics. Throughout this process, participants identify the acquiredknowledge and this is linked to indicators of empowerment, using questionnaires, content analysis and semi-structured interviews.Results: The development PE process in the three analyzed cases confirmed that PE is a useful strategy to assess participatory community actions of a territory; to report them to the people of the community; andto make shared decisions, about initiatives in order to improve community actions. The obtained results also verify that, throughout PE, there has been learning in the participants.Conclusions: The involvement of community members in the evaluation makes it more useful, fairer and more valid, but also a fourth positive consequence of PE is empowerment. From the process and the resultsof these cases of Participatory Evaluation, we consider that community EP is social transformation.

Empowerment Amongst Teachers Holding Leadership Positions

Science.gov (United States)

Avidov-Ungar, Orit; Friedman, Izhak; Olshtain, Elite

2014-01-01

This study used semi-structured in-depth interviews to explore empowerment patterns among teachers who hold leadership positions in school. Our qualitative analysis presents a hierarchical ladder with three types of empowerment amongst these teachers, ranging from limited empowerment through rewarding empowerment to change-enhancing empowerment.…

Efficiency and cutoff values of the Voice Activity and Participation Profile for nonteachers and teachers.

Science.gov (United States)

Zambon, Fabiana; Moreti, Felipe; Vargas, Aline Cristina Tafarelo; Behlau, Mara

2015-01-01

To identify the efficiency characteristics and cutoff values of the dimensions of the Voice Activity and Participation Profile (VAPP) protocol, which discriminates the dysphonic and vocally healthy individuals; to verify if the cutoff values remain the same for a sample of teachers. Efficiency characteristics and cutoff values of VAPP data from 171 subjects were analyzed by receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve: 90 teachers (60 dysphonic and 30 vocally healthy individuals, with a similar mean age, p=0.418) and 81 nonteachers (48 dysphonic and 33 vocally healthy individuals, with a similar mean age, p=0.934). The area under the ROC curve (AUC) and the cutoff values of the total score of VAPP for discriminating the individuals with and without dysphonia are different for the nonteachers and teachers. The nonteachers presented AUC=0.986 (pteachers presented AUC=0.872 (pteachers, being higher for the teachers but with greater sensitivity and specificity for the nonteachers, and can be used to screen large populations with the risk of voice disorders.

Your Cheatin' Voice Will Tell on You: Detection of Past Infidelity from Voice.

Science.gov (United States)

Hughes, Susan M; Harrison, Marissa A

2017-01-01

Evidence suggests that many physical, behavioral, and trait qualities can be detected solely from the sound of a person's voice, irrespective of the semantic information conveyed through speech. This study examined whether raters could accurately assess the likelihood that a person has cheated on committed, romantic partners simply by hearing the speaker's voice. Independent raters heard voice samples of individuals who self-reported that they either cheated or had never cheated on their romantic partners. To control for aspects that may clue a listener to the speaker's mate value, we used voice samples that did not differ between these groups for voice attractiveness, age, voice pitch, and other acoustic measures. We found that participants indeed rated the voices of those who had a history of cheating as more likely to cheat. Male speakers were given higher ratings for cheating, while female raters were more likely to ascribe the likelihood to cheat to speakers. Additionally, we manipulated the pitch of the voice samples, and for both sexes, the lower pitched versions were consistently rated to be from those who were more likely to have cheated. Regardless of the pitch manipulation, speakers were able to assess actual history of infidelity; the one exception was that men's accuracy decreased when judging women whose voices were lowered. These findings expand upon the idea that the human voice may be of value as a cheater detection tool and very thin slices of vocal information are all that is needed to make certain assessments about others.

Reductions in Parental Use of Corporal Punishment on Pre-School Children Following Participation in the Moms' Empowerment Program.

Science.gov (United States)

Grogan-Kaylor, Andrew; Galano, Maria M; Howell, Kathryn H; Miller-Graff, Laura; Graham-Bermann, Sandra A

2016-06-09

Corporal punishment is a widely used and widely endorsed form of parental discipline. Inter-partner violence places enormous stress upon women. The rate of corporal punishment is higher in homes where other types of domestic violence are also occurring. This study compares two groups: those who participated in an intervention for women exposed to intimate partner violence (The Moms' Empowerment Program [MEP]) and those in a comparison group. Using standardized measures, women in both groups were assessed at baseline and at the end of the program, 5 weeks later. The 113 mothers who participated in the MEP program had significantly improved their parenting, such that they had less use of physical punishment post-intervention. Findings suggest that a relatively brief community-based intervention program can reduce the use of parental physical punishment even in disadvantaged populations coping with stressful circumstances. © The Author(s) 2016.

Empowerment and organizational structure

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Juhl, Hans Jørn; Kristensen, Kai; Dahlgaard, Jens Jørn

1997-01-01

This paper provides an analysis of empowerment and the conditions for empowerment that exists at different levels of the organization in various Easten and Western countries. The analysis of the data collected by the Quality and Economic Development Project indicates that there are considerable...... differences between East and West regarding empowerment. Udgivelsesdato: FEB...

Empowerment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Poder, Poul

2005-01-01

Empowerment er et af tidens plus ord og betyder direkte oversat bemyndige eller sætte i stand. Det er et begreb, der sætter fokus på processer, hvor igennem mennesker bliver i stand til at modvirke afmagt og afhængighed. Målet er refleksive og myndige mennesker og aktører, med stemme og handlings......Empowerment er et af tidens plus ord og betyder direkte oversat bemyndige eller sætte i stand. Det er et begreb, der sætter fokus på processer, hvor igennem mennesker bliver i stand til at modvirke afmagt og afhængighed. Målet er refleksive og myndige mennesker og aktører, med stemme og...... empowerment interessen. Akademisk set er empowermentbegrebet nemlig ikke noget stærkt begreb, der nyder anerkendelse i akademia. Jeg vil imidlertid argumentere for at et kritisk transformativt empowermentperspektiv fortjener at blive mere indholdsudfyldt. Det handler grundlæggende om et samfundskritisk og...

Investigations of Hemispheric Specialization of Self-Voice Recognition

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Rosa, Christine; Lassonde, Maryse; Pinard, Claudine; Keenan, Julian Paul; Belin, Pascal

2008-01-01

Three experiments investigated functional asymmetries related to self-recognition in the domain of voices. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to identify one of three presented voices (self, familiar or unknown) by responding with either the right or the left-hand. In Experiment 2, participants were presented with auditory morphs between the…

Distance Education as a Women Empowerment Strategy in Africa

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Olugbenga David OJO

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Women emancipation through empowerment all over the world is at its peak and Africans generally are not left out. It is an attempt to make sure that women’s voices are heard and are given their right places in the scheme of things. Nonetheless, the issue of educational attainment of women considering the low level of girls’ education in Africa is at a negative variance to attaining women position since certain educational attainments are required to function effectively in the various available organs; be it work place, group or committees of local or international standing. This paper therefore stresses the use of open and distance institution in Nigeria as an avenue to attain knowledge and education that would put women in a better stead toward achieving their aims and aspirations.

A framework linking community empowerment and health equity: it is a matter of CHOICE.

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Rifkin, Susan B

2003-09-01

This paper presents a framework to explore the relationship between health equity and community empowerment. It traces the progression of the concept of participation to the present term of empowerment and the links among empowerment, equity, and health outcomes. It argues that the relationship can best be described by using the acronym CHOICE (Capacity-building, Human rights, Organizational sustainability, Institutional accountability, Contribution, and Enabling environment). Based on the concept of development as freedom put forward by Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, the paper describes how each factor illustrates the relationship between equity and empowerment in positive health outcomes, giving appropriate examples. In conclusion, it is suggested that these factors might form the basis of a tool to assess the relationship between equity and empowerment and its impact on health outcomes.

[Psychological effects of preventive voice care training in student teachers].

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Nusseck, M; Richter, B; Echternach, M; Spahn, C

2017-07-01

Studies on the effectiveness of preventive voice care programs have focused mainly on voice parameters. Psychological parameters, however, have not been investigated in detail so far. The effect of a voice training program for German student teachers on psychological health parameters was investigated in a longitudinal study. The sample of 204 student teachers was divided into the intervention group (n = 123), who participated in the voice training program, and the control group (n = 81), who received no voice training. Voice training contained ten 90-min group courses and an individual visit by the voice trainer in a teaching situation with feedback afterwards. Participants were asked to fill out questionnaires (self-efficacy, Short-Form Health Survey, self-consciousness, voice self-concept, work-related behaviour and experience patterns) at the beginning and the end of their student teacher training period. The training program showed significant positive influences on psychological health, voice self-concept (i.e. more positive perception and increased awareness of one's own voice) and work-related coping behaviour in the intervention group. On average, the mental health status of all participants reduced over time, whereas the status in the trained group diminished significantly less than in the control group. Furthermore, the trained student teachers gained abilities to cope with work-related stress better than those without training. The training program clearly showed a positive impact on mental health. The results maintain the importance of such a training program not only for voice health, but also for wide-ranging aspects of constitutional health.

Ethnographic Exploration of Empowerment to Improve Elderly Residents’ Quality of Life

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Tabatabaei, Seyed Zia; Ebrahimi, Fatemeh; Hamzah, Azimi Bin Hj; Rezaeian, Mohsen; Kamrani, Mahnaz Akbari

2017-01-01

Background: Evidence underscores that empowerment is central to improve the elderly residents’ quality of life. In truth, empowerment is a process through which individuals gain better control over their life. The aim of this study was to explore how perceived empowerment influence on the quality of life among elderly Malay residents. Materials and Methods: A focus ethnographic approach was employed in a Malaysian residential home between May 2011 and January 2012. Data were gathered from participant observations, field notes, in-depth interviews, and exploring related documents. Results: The analysis of the data gathered in the current study resulted in the development of three themes – social life and its requirements, caregivers’ skills empowerment, and listening and supporting. Conclusions: Findings of the study provide new insights that are useful in charting new guideline for care providers and policy makers to improve the elderly residents’ quality of life. PMID:29034000

Women, Poverty, and Trauma: An Empowerment Practice Approach.

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East, Jean Francis; Roll, Susan J

2015-10-01

This article describes an empowerment approach for working with diverse women who experience poverty, trauma, and multiple structural oppressions. The approach is the result of 20 years of experience developing, implementing, and evaluating this practice in a metropolitan community, and is grounded in women's empowerment theory and relational-cultural theory. The interventions combine social work's clinical interventions with community organizing strategies to promote personal and collective empowerment, supporting the "personal is political" tenet of feminist practice. The interventions, including nonclinical interviews, story circles, and leadership and advocacy education and training, can guide practitioners in providing services and programs that create a space for women to make changes in their personal lives and in their community. Program outcomes report successful changes for women in improving symptoms, increasing self-efficacy, and engaging in community advocacy. Women who participated also reported an increased sense of power, balancing commonality and difference among women, and a sense of hope for their future.

Urban caregiver empowerment: Caregiver nativity, child-asthma symptoms, and emergency-department use.

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Coutinho, Maria Teresa; Kopel, Sheryl J; Williams, Brittney; Dansereau, Katie; Koinis-Mitchell, Daphne

2016-09-01

In this study, we examined the associations between caregiver empowerment, child-asthma symptoms, and emergency-department (ED) use in a sample of school-age urban children with asthma. We examined differences in caregiver empowerment, and in the associations among caregiver empowerment, proportion of days with child-asthma symptoms, and ED use as a function of caregiver nativity. Participants for this study were part of a larger longitudinal study and included Latino, African American and non-Latino White urban caregivers and their children with asthma (ages 7-9; N = 130). Caregiver empowerment was assessed within family, asthma services, and community domains. Children whose caregivers reported greater empowerment within the family (i.e., possessing sufficient knowledge and ability to care for their families) presented with fewer asthma symptoms. Children whose caregivers reported greater empowerment within asthma services (i.e., the ability to collaborate with asthma providers and the health-care system), presented with more asthma symptoms. Foreign-born caregivers endorsed greater empowerment within the family, whereas U.S.-born caregivers reported greater empowerment within asthma services. For foreign-born caregivers, higher levels of empowerment in the family were associated with fewer child-asthma symptoms. For U.S.-born caregivers, higher levels of empowerment in asthma services were associated with more child-asthma symptoms. Results suggest that caregivers who feel more confident and better able to manage problems within their families may better manage their children's asthma symptoms. Foreign-born caregivers may benefit from increased support to more effectively navigate the asthma health-care system and manage their children's asthma. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Empowerment of women and its association with the health of the community.

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Varkey, Prathibha; Mbbs; Kureshi, Sarah; Lesnick, Timothy

2010-01-01

Empowerment and opportunities to experience power and control in one's life contribute to health and wellness. Although studies have assessed specific factors related to women's empowerment and their influence on health outcomes, there is a dearth of published literature assessing the relationship of the empowerment of women with the overall health of a community. By means of this article, we aim to assess the relationship of women's empowerment with health in 75 countries. We used the gender empowerment measure (GEM), a composite index measuring gender inequality in economic participation and decision making, political participation and decision making, and power over economic resources. All 75 countries with GEM values in the 2006 Human Development Report (HDR) were included in the study. Association between the GEM values and seven health indicators was evaluated using descriptive statistics, scatter plots, and simple and multiple linear regression models. We also controlled for gross domestic product (GDP) as a possible confounding factor and included this variable in the multiple regression models. When GDP was not considered, GEM had a statistically significant association with all health indicator variables except for proportion of 1-year-olds immunized against measles (correlation coefficient 0.063, p = 0.597). After adjusting for GDP, GEM was significantly associated with low birth weight, fertility rate, infant mortality, and age women is associated with several key health indicators at a national level. Further research is necessary to determine the cause-effect relationship of these factors, confounding factors that may influence the relationship, and specific aspects of empowerment of women that effectively influence the health of the larger community.

Acoustic cues for the recognition of self-voice and other-voice

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Mingdi eXu

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Self-recognition, being indispensable for successful social communication, has become a major focus in current social neuroscience. The physical aspects of the self are most typically manifested in the face and voice. Compared with the wealth of studies on self-face recognition, self-voice recognition (SVR has not gained much attention. Converging evidence has suggested that the fundamental frequency (F0 and formant structures serve as the key acoustic cues for other-voice recognition (OVR. However, little is known about which, and how, acoustic cues are utilized for SVR as opposed to OVR. To address this question, we independently manipulated the F0 and formant information of recorded voices and investigated their contributions to SVR and OVR. Japanese participants were presented with recorded vocal stimuli and were asked to identify the speaker—either themselves or one of their peers. Six groups of 5 peers of the same sex participated in the study. Under conditions where the formant information was fully preserved and where only the frequencies lower than the third formant (F3 were retained, accuracies of SVR deteriorated significantly with the modulation of the F0, and the results were comparable for OVR. By contrast, under a condition where only the frequencies higher than F3 were retained, the accuracy of SVR was significantly higher than that of OVR throughout the range of F0 modulations, and the F0 scarcely affected the accuracies of SVR and OVR. Our results indicate that while both F0 and formant information are involved in SVR, as well as in OVR, the advantage of SVR is manifested only when major formant information for speech intelligibility is absent. These findings imply the robustness of self-voice representation, possibly by virtue of auditory familiarity and other factors such as its association with motor/articulatory representation.

Implicit multisensory associations influence voice recognition.

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Katharina von Kriegstein

2006-10-01

Full Text Available Natural objects provide partially redundant information to the brain through different sensory modalities. For example, voices and faces both give information about the speech content, age, and gender of a person. Thanks to this redundancy, multimodal recognition is fast, robust, and automatic. In unimodal perception, however, only part of the information about an object is available. Here, we addressed whether, even under conditions of unimodal sensory input, crossmodal neural circuits that have been shaped by previous associative learning become activated and underpin a performance benefit. We measured brain activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging before, while, and after participants learned to associate either sensory redundant stimuli, i.e. voices and faces, or arbitrary multimodal combinations, i.e. voices and written names, ring tones, and cell phones or brand names of these cell phones. After learning, participants were better at recognizing unimodal auditory voices that had been paired with faces than those paired with written names, and association of voices with faces resulted in an increased functional coupling between voice and face areas. No such effects were observed for ring tones that had been paired with cell phones or names. These findings demonstrate that brief exposure to ecologically valid and sensory redundant stimulus pairs, such as voices and faces, induces specific multisensory associations. Consistent with predictive coding theories, associative representations become thereafter available for unimodal perception and facilitate object recognition. These data suggest that for natural objects effective predictive signals can be generated across sensory systems and proceed by optimization of functional connectivity between specialized cortical sensory modules.

Measuring Women's Empowerment in Sub-Saharan Africa: Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses of the Demographic and Health Surveys

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Ibitola O. Asaolu

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Background: Women's status and empowerment influence health, nutrition, and socioeconomic status of women and their children. Despite its benefits, however, research on women's empowerment in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA is limited in scope and geography. Empowerment is variably defined and data for comparison across regions is often limited. The objective of the current study was to identify domains of empowerment from a widely available data source, Demographic and Health Surveys, across multiple regions in SSA.Methods: Demographic and Health Surveys from nineteen countries representing four African regions were used for the analysis. A total of 26 indicators across different dimensions (economic, socio-cultural, education, and health were used to characterize women's empowerment. Pooled data from all countries were randomly divided into two datasets—one for exploratory factor analysis (EFA and the other for Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA—to verify the factor structure hypothesized during EFA.Results: Four factors including attitudes toward violence, labor force participation, education, and access to healthcare were found to define women's empowerment in Central, Southern, and West Africa. However, in East Africa, only three factors were relevant: attitudes toward violence, access to healthcare ranking, and labor force participation. There was limited evidence to support household decision-making, life course, or legal status domains as components of women's empowerment.Conclusion: This foremost study advances scholarship on women's empowerment by providing a validated measure of women's empowerment for researchers and other stakeholders in health and development.

Effect of Demographic Factors on Empowerment Attributions of Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

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Perry, Ashley H.

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of demographic factors on empowerment attributions of parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Data were collected to determine differences between demographic factors of participants and self-reported empowerment attributions. A quantitative research design was employed in…

Empowerment in practice - insights from CITI-SENSE project in Ljubljana

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Robinson, Johanna; Kocman, David; Smolnikar, Miha; Mohorčič, Miha; Horvat, Milena

2014-05-01

We present specifics of the citizen empowerment and crowd sourced citizen science conducted in Ljubljana, Slovenia, as one of the case study cities within the ongoing EU-project CITI-SENSE. CITI-SENSE addresses urban air quality and rests on three pillars: technological platforms for distributed monitoring; novel information and communication technologies; and citizen participation. In the project, empowerment initiatives are conducted, enabling citizens to participate in various aspects of urban air quality, both outdoor and indoor at schools affecting everyday life of societal groups. Each participating country runs its own citizen empowerment campaign adapting to local circumstances. In addition to Ljubljana, local campaigns have been initiated in Barcelona, Belgrade, Edinburgh, Haifa, Ljubljana, Oslo, Ostrava, Vienna and in Vitoria. Poor air quality has been recognized as an important factor affecting the quality of life, especially in urban environments. In Ljubljana specifically, the main air pollution sources are traffic-related emissions, individual house heating devices including increased use of coal and biomass in recent years, and to a limit extent industrial point sources and waste disposal sites. Air quality can be occasionally very poor due to specific climatic conditions owing partially to its location in a basin and on the marshes, resulting in a very complex circulation of air masses, temperature inversions and formation of urban heat island. By recognizing this, we established the main stakeholders in the city who are responsible for monitoring the quality of air in Ljubljana. Based on full stakeholder analysis we consider co-operation with local governmental- and non-governmental institutions with already established means of communications with citizens, as a tool for empowerment. Since we spend over 90% of our time indoors, the indoor air quality is of great importance. It is why the CITI-SENSE project empowerment initiatives also cover this

Caregivers' job satisfaction and empowerment before and after an intervention focused on caregiver empowerment.

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Engström, Maria; Wadensten, Barbro; Häggström, Elisabeth

2010-01-01

To evaluate a training programme aimed at strengthening caregivers' self-esteem and empowering them, and also to study correlations between psychological empowerment and job satisfaction. Structural and psychological empowerment have received increased attention in nursing management, yet few intervention studies on this topic, based on theoretical assumptions, have been conducted in elderly care. Data on self-assessed psychological empowerment and job satisfaction were collected in an intervention (n = 14) and a comparison group (n = 32), before and after the intervention. When compared over time in the respective groups, there were significant improvements in the intervention group regarding the factor criticism (job satisfaction scale). There were no statistically significant differences in the comparison group. Total empowerment and all factors of empowerment correlated positively with total job satisfaction. Six out of eight factors of job satisfaction correlated positively with total empowerment. Caregivers' perception of criticism can improve through an intervention aimed at strengthening their self-esteem and empowering them. Implications for nursing management Intervention focused on psychological empowerment and especially caregivers' communication skills seems to be beneficial for caregivers. Recommendations are to increase the programme's length and scope and to include all staff at the unit. However, these recommendations need to be studied further.

Women's empowerment and ideal family size: an examination of DHS empowerment measures in Sub-Saharan Africa.

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Upadhyay, Ushma D; Karasek, Deborah

2012-06-01

The Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) program collects data on women's empowerment, but little is known about how these measures perform in Sub-Saharan African countries. It is important to understand whether women's empowerment is associated with their ideal number of children and ability to limit fertility to that ideal number in the Sub-Saharan African context. The analysis used couples data from DHS surveys in four Sub-Saharan African countries: Guinea, Mali, Namibia and Zambia. Women's empowerment was measured by participation in household decision making, attitudes toward wife beating and attitudes toward refusing sex with one's husband. Multivariable linear regression was used to model women's ideal number of children, and multivariable logistic regression was used to model women's odds of having more children than their ideal. In Guinea and Zambia, negative attitudes toward wife beating were associated with having a smaller ideal number of children (beta coefficients, -0.5 and -0.3, respectively). Greater household decision making was associated with a smaller ideal number of children only in Guinea (beta coefficient, -0.3). Additionally, household decision making and positive attitudes toward women's right to refuse sex were associated with elevated odds of having more children than desired in Namibia and Zambia, respectively (odds ratios, 2.3 and 1.4); negative attitudes toward wife beating were associated with reduced odds of the outcome in Mali (0.4). Women's empowerment--as assessed using currently available measures--is not consistently associated with a desire for smaller families or the ability to achieve desired fertility in these Sub-Saharan African countries. Further research is needed to determine what measures are most applicable for these contexts.

Analyzing empowerment oriented email consultation for parents : Development of the Guiding the Empowerment Process model

NARCIS (Netherlands)

dr. Christa C.C. Nieuwboer

2014-01-01

Background. Online consultation is increasingly offered by parenting practitioners, but it is not clear if it is feasible to provide empowerment oriented support in single session email consultation. Method. Based on empowerment theory we developed the Guiding the Empowerment Process model (GEP

Perceived empowerment in people with a dual diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum disorder and substance misuse.

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Berry, Katherine; Allott, Rory; Emsley, Richard; Ennion, Sarah; Barrowclough, Christine

2014-03-01

The aims of the present study were to validate a measure of empowerment in a British population of people with a dual diagnosis of schizophrenia and substance misuse and assess relationships between empowerment and other key outcomes. Patients participating in a large randomised control trial for Motivational Interviewing for Drug and Alcohol misuse in Schizophrenia or psychosis (MIDAS trial) completed measures of empowerment, symptoms, global functioning and substance use at baseline, 12- and 24-month follow-ups. A three factor model of empowerment: self-efficacy and control; power and anger; and activism provided the best fit of the data across all three time points. There was some evidence of associations between empowerment and both symptoms and global functioning, although these associations were not consistent across subscales. Changes in empowerment predicted changes in symptoms and functioning at follow-up. Empowerment is a broadly defined construct and its meaning may differ across different populations of people with severe and enduring mental health problems. Empowerment is a key component of recovery and should be assessed in treatments in addition to more traditional outcome measures of symptoms and functioning.

Higher Education and Women's Empowerment in Pakistan

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Malik, Samina; Courtney, Kathy

2011-01-01

This paper summarises the findings of a 2005 doctoral study by Malik which explored to what extent participation in higher education offers empowerment to women in Pakistan. A survey instrument was used to question female faculty members and female students from 10 public universities in Pakistan; 1290 students and 290 faculty members responded.…

Counseling for Empowerment.

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McWhirter, Ellen Hawley

Counseling for empowerment is a complex and multifaceted process that requires, for some, a radical departure from the traditional conceptualization of the helper's role. The process of empowerment demands that professional helpers and their clients take an active, collaborative approach to identifying problems and goals. Drawing from counseling,…

Elders Health Empowerment Scale

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2014-01-01

Introduction: Empowerment refers to patient skills that allow them to become primary decision-makers in control of daily self-management of health problems. As important the concept as it is, particularly for elders with chronic diseases, few available instruments have been validated for use with Spanish speaking people. Objective: Translate and adapt the Health Empowerment Scale (HES) for a Spanish-speaking older adults sample and perform its psychometric validation. Methods: The HES was adapted based on the Diabetes Empowerment Scale-Short Form. Where "diabetes" was mentioned in the original tool, it was replaced with "health" terms to cover all kinds of conditions that could affect health empowerment. Statistical and Psychometric Analyses were conducted on 648 urban-dwelling seniors. Results: The HES had an acceptable internal consistency with a Cronbach's α of 0.89. The convergent validity was supported by significant Pearson's Coefficient correlations between the HES total and item scores and the General Self Efficacy Scale (r= 0.77), Swedish Rheumatic Disease Empowerment Scale (r= 0.69) and Making Decisions Empowerment Scale (r= 0.70). Construct validity was evaluated using item analysis, half-split test and corrected item to total correlation coefficients; with good internal consistency (α> 0.8). The content validity was supported by Scale and Item Content Validity Index of 0.98 and 1.0, respectively. Conclusions: HES had acceptable face validity and reliability coefficients; which added to its ease administration and users' unbiased comprehension, could set it as a suitable tool in evaluating elder's outpatient empowerment-based medical education programs. PMID:25767307

Psychological effects of dysphonia in voice professionals.

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Salturk, Ziya; Kumral, Tolgar Lutfi; Aydoğdu, Imran; Arslanoğlu, Ahmet; Berkiten, Güler; Yildirim, Güven; Uyar, Yavuz

2015-08-01

To evaluate the psychological effects of dysphonia in voice professionals compared to non-voice professionals and in both genders. Cross-sectional analysis. Forty-eight 48 voice professionals and 52 non-voice professionals with dysphonia were included in this study. All participants underwent a complete ear, nose, and throat examination and an evaluation for pathologies that might affect vocal quality. Participants were asked to complete the Turkish versions of the Voice Handicap Index-30 (VHI-30), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). HADS scores were evaluated as HADS-A (anxiety) and HADS-D (depression). Dysphonia status was evaluated by grade, roughness, breathiness, asthenia, and strain (GRBAS) scale perceptually. The results were compared statistically. Significant differences between the two groups were evident when the VHI-30 and PSS data were compared (P = .00001 and P = .00001, respectively). However, neither HADS score (HADS-A and HADS-D) differed between groups. An analysis of the scores in terms of sex revealed that females had significantly higher PSS scores (P = .006). The GRBAS scale revealed no difference between groups (P = .819, .931, .803, .655, and .803, respectively). No between-sex differences in the VHI-30 or HADS scores were evident We found that voice professionals and females experienced more stress and were more dissatisfied with their voices. 4. © 2015 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.

Voice hearing within the context of hearers' social worlds: an interpretative phenomenological analysis.

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Mawson, Amy; Berry, Katherine; Murray, Craig; Hayward, Mark

2011-09-01

Research has found relational qualities of power and intimacy to exist within hearer-voice interactions. The present study aimed to provide a deeper understanding of the interpersonal context of voice hearing by exploring participants' relationships with their voices and other people in their lives. This research was designed in consultation with service users and employed a qualitative, phenomenological, and idiographic design using semi-structured interviews. Ten participants, recruited via mental health services, and who reported hearing voices in the previous week, completed the interviews. These were transcribed verbatim and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Five themes resulted from the analysis. Theme 1: 'person and voice' demonstrated that participants' voices often reflected the identity, but not always the quality of social acquaintances. Theme 2: 'voices changing and confirming relationship with the self' explored the impact of voice hearing in producing an inferior sense-of-self in comparison to others. Theme 3: 'a battle for control' centred on issues of control and a dilemma of independence within voice relationships. Theme 4: 'friendships facilitating the ability to cope' and theme 5: 'voices creating distance in social relationships' explored experiences of social relationships within the context of voice hearing, and highlighted the impact of social isolation for voice hearers. The study demonstrated the potential role of qualitative research in developing theories of voice hearing. It extended previous research by highlighting the interface between voices and the social world of the hearer, including reciprocal influences of social relationships on voices and coping. Improving voice hearers' sense-of-self may be a key factor in reducing the distress caused by voices. ©2010 The British Psychological Society.

Which empowerment, which Health Promotion? Conceptual convergences and divergences in preventive health practices.

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Ferreira, Marcos Santos; Castiel, Luis David

2009-01-01

Based on the multiple meanings, 'empowerment' can be identified with either conservative or critical Health Promotion approaches. From a conservative approach, the concept is viewed as an essentially individual phenomenon, centered on the provision of information and the external transfer of power in the name of the collective good. From this approach, the relationship between 'psychological' and 'community' empowerment is not considered. From a critical approach, the concept is viewed as a relational phenomenon that manifests itself in the dialectic conflict of interests between individuals, groups, and social classes. From this approach, 'psychological' and 'community' empowerment are seen as micro and macro levels of analysis, and social transformations are the result of simultaneous changes at these levels. The use of the notion of empowerment without critical reflection or political analysis of power relations in society disseminates vague, romantic, and homogeneous views of 'community'. Therefore, to assume the relational nature of empowerment means to accept its interdependence with the notion of participation, without which there can be no social transformation. Thus, one should be vigilant about multiple meanings that empowerment can given in Health Promotion discourse.

Transformational leadership, empowerment, and job satisfaction: the mediating role of employee empowerment.

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Choi, Sang Long; Goh, Chin Fei; Adam, Muhammad Badrull Hisyam; Tan, Owee Kowang

2016-12-01

Recent studies have revealed that nursing staff turnover remains a major problem in emerging economies. In particular, nursing staff turnover in Malaysia remains high due to a lack of job satisfaction. Despite a shortage of healthcare staff, the Malaysian government plans to create 181 000 new healthcare jobs by 2020 through the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP). This study investigated the causal relationships among perceived transformational leadership, empowerment, and job satisfaction among nurses and medical assistants in two selected large private and public hospitals in Malaysia. This study also explored the mediating effect of empowerment between transformational leadership and job satisfaction. This study used a survey to collect data from 200 nursing staff, i.e., nurses and medical assistants, employed by a large private hospital and a public hospital in Malaysia. Respondents were asked to answer 5-point Likert scale questions regarding transformational leadership, employee empowerment, and job satisfaction. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the measurement models and to estimate parameters in a path model. Statistical analysis was performed to examine whether empowerment mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and job satisfaction. This analysis showed that empowerment mediated the effect of transformational leadership on the job satisfaction in nursing staff. Employee empowerment not only is indispensable for enhancing job satisfaction but also mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and job satisfaction among nursing staff. The results of this research contribute to the literature on job satisfaction in healthcare industries by enhancing the understanding of the influences of empowerment and transformational leadership on job satisfaction among nursing staff. This study offers important policy insight for healthcare managers who seek to increase job

Elucidating the power in empowerment and the participation in participatory action research: a story about research team and elementary school change.

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Dworski-Riggs, Deanne; Langhout, Regina Day

2010-06-01

Community psychologists are increasingly using Participatory Action Research (PAR) as a way to promote social justice by creating conditions that foster empowerment. Yet, little attention has been paid to the differences between the power structure that PAR advocates and the local community power structures. This paper seeks to evaluate the level of participation in a PAR project for multiple stakeholder groups, determine how PAR was adjusted to better fit community norms, and whether our research team was able to facilitate the emergence of PAR by adopting an approach that was relevant to the existing power relations. We conclude that power differences should not be seen as roadblocks to participation, but rather as moments of opportunity for the researchers to refine their methods and for the community and the community psychologist to challenge existing power structures.

Empowerment: The Emperor's New Clothes.

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Argyris, Chris

1998-01-01

Discusses why there has been little growth in empowerment over the past 30 years. Suggests that executives often work against empowerment both consciously and unconsciously and that they often do not seem to want what they say they need. Makes some recommendations that may help executives think more sensibly about empowerment. (JOW)

Stress resiliency, psychological empowerment and conflict management styles among baccalaureate nursing students.

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Pines, Eula W; Rauschhuber, Maureen L; Norgan, Gary H; Cook, Jennifer D; Canchola, Leticia; Richardson, Cynthia; Jones, Mary Elaine

2012-07-01

This article is a report of a Neuman Systems Model-guided correlational study of the relations of stress resiliency, psychological empowerment, selected demographic characteristics (age, ethnicity, semester in school) and conflict management styles. Emerging evidence suggests that stress resiliency and psychological empowerment can strengthen student nurses in academic achievement and coping with stress. Little is known about conflict management styles of students and the relationship to empowerment, resiliency and the implications for managing workplace conflict. A correlational study was conducted in Spring 2010 with 166 baccalaureate students. Most participants were female, single, Hispanic and 25 years old. The data collection instruments included the Stress Resiliency Profile, the Psychological Empowerment Instrument, the Conflict Mode Instrument and a demographic inventory. Descriptive and inferential correlational statistics were used to analyse the data. Students scored in the high range for focusing on their deficiencies in conflict situations; they scored above the 60th percentile for avoiding and accommodating behaviours and were less likely to use competing or collaborating strategies to manage conflict. Empowerment scores were significantly correlated with stress resiliency scores. Students with high scores on empowerment had high scores on the skill recognition subscale of the Stress Resiliency Profile suggesting more resilience; high scores on empowerment were related to high necessitating subscale scores of the Stress Resiliency Profile suggesting a predisposition to stress. Neuman Systems Model may provide guidance for educators to strengthen student nurses' management of stressors in the workplace. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Staff Nurses' Perceptions and Experiences about Structural Empowerment: A Qualitative Phenomenological Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Bogaert, Peter; Peremans, Lieve; Diltour, Nadine; Van heusden, Danny; Dilles, Tinne; Van Rompaey, Bart; Havens, Donna Sullivan

2016-01-01

The aim of the study reported in this article was to investigate staff nurses' perceptions and experiences about structural empowerment and perceptions regarding the extent to which structural empowerment supports safe quality patient care. To address the complex needs of patients, staff nurse involvement in clinical and organizational decision-making processes within interdisciplinary care settings is crucial. A qualitative study was conducted using individual semi-structured interviews of 11 staff nurses assigned to medical or surgical units in a 600-bed university hospital in Belgium. During the study period, the hospital was going through an organizational transformation process to move from a classic hierarchical and departmental organizational structure to one that was flat and interdisciplinary. Staff nurses reported experiencing structural empowerment and they were willing to be involved in decision-making processes primarily about patient care within the context of their practice unit. However, participants were not always fully aware of the challenges and the effect of empowerment on their daily practice, the quality of care and patient safety. Ongoing hospital change initiatives supported staff nurses' involvement in decision-making processes for certain matters but for some decisions, a classic hierarchical and departmental process still remained. Nurses perceived relatively high work demands and at times viewed empowerment as presenting additional. Staff nurses recognized the opportunities structural empowerment provided within their daily practice. Nurse managers and unit climate were seen as crucial for success while lack of time and perceived work demands were viewed as barriers to empowerment.

Compliance and quality of life in patients on prescribed voice rest.

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Rousseau, Bernard; Cohen, Seth M; Zeller, Amy S; Scearce, Leda; Tritter, Andrew G; Garrett, C Gaelyn

2011-01-01

To determine patient compliance with voice rest and the impact of voice rest on quality of life (QOL). Prospective. University hospital. Demographics, self-reported compliance, QOL impact on a 100-mm visual analog scale (VAS), and communication methods were collected from 84 participants from 2 academic voice centers. Of 84 participants, 36.9% were men, 63.1% were women, and 64.3% were singers. The mean age of participants was 47.2 years. The mean duration of voice rest was 8.8 days (range, 3-28), and the median was 7 days. Overall compliance was 34.5%. Postoperative voice rest patients were more compliant than non-postoperative patients (42.4% vs 16.0%, P = .04, χ(2)). Voice rest had an impact on QOL (mean ± SD, 68.5 ± 27.7). Voice rest also had a greater impact on singers than nonsingers (mean VAS 77.2 vs 63.6, P = .03, t test) and on those age <60 years than those age ≥ 60 years (mean VAS 74.4 vs 46.7, P < .001, t test). More talkative patients and those with longer periods of voice rest had worse QOL scores (Spearman correlation = 0.35, P = .001 and Spearman correlation = 0.24, P = .03, respectively). Restrictions in personal and social life were noted in 36.9% of patients, 46.4% were unable to work, 44.0% felt frustrated, and 38.1% reported feeling handicapped while on voice rest. Given poor patient compliance and the significant impact of voice rest on QOL, further studies are warranted to examine the efficacy of voice rest and factors that may contribute to patient noncompliance with treatment.

Privileging Younger Children's Voices in Research: Use of Drawings and a Co-Construction Process

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Joanna Tay-Lim PhD Student

2013-02-01

Full Text Available The growing acknowledgement of the value of listening to children's views and experiences in social research, popularly termed as “listening to their voices,” brings with it methodological consequences. Regarding children as expert informants about their own lives carries with it the simultaneous call for researchers to be experts in developing and employing appropriate strategies that can effectively elicit the insights that children can bring to a research topic. With younger children, the use of participatory methodologies has been foregrounded as the key to unlocking their potential to contribute rich and useful perspectives to inform research into their lives. This article explores the usefulness of employing preschoolers' drawings within the context of a co-construction process to facilitate the children's construction of ideas and reinforce their voices in research. The case is made that the quality of the dialogical engagement is as important as the drawing itself, and both visual images and the verbal exchanges are central to the children's meaning-making process. In the co-construction process, both adult and child are (ideally equal players and the resulting dialogical process plays a major role in the constitution of the phenomena. The role of the researcher as the co-constructor can be a challenging one because it entails engaging and supporting children's views and the expression of these views. The discussion and illustrations from the first author's research projects contribute to the literature base on positioning preschool children as valid social actors in their communities. We operate through an ethos of empowerment of all participants, and aim for participatory research practice which has at its heart an active involvement in promoting the rights of children as citizens with voice and power. (Pascal & Bertram, 2009, p. 249

VOICE QUALITY BEFORE AND AFTER THYROIDECTOMY

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Dora CVELBAR

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Voice disorders are a well-known complication which is often associated with thyroid gland diseases and because voice is still the basic mean of communication it is very important to maintain its quality healthy. Objectives: The aim of this study referred to questions whether there is a statistically significant difference between results of voice self-assessment, perceptual voice assessment and acoustic voice analysis before and after thyroidectomy and whether there are statistically significant correlations between variables of voice self-assessment, perceptual assessment and acoustic analysis before and after thyroidectomy. Methods: This scientific research included 12 participants aged between 41 and 76. Voice self-assessment was conducted with the help of Croatian version of Voice Handicap Index (VHI. Recorded reading samples were used for perceptual assessment and later evaluated by two clinical speech and language therapists. Recorded samples of phonation were used for acoustic analysis which was conducted with the help of acoustic program Praat. All of the data was processed through descriptive statistics and nonparametric statistical methods. Results: Results showed that there are statistically significant differences between results of voice self-assessments and results of acoustic analysis before and after thyroidectomy. Statistically significant correlations were found between variables of perceptual assessment and acoustic analysis. Conclusion: Obtained results indicate the importance of multidimensional, preoperative and postoperative assessment. This kind of assessment allows the clinician to describe all of the voice features and provides appropriate recommendation for further rehabilitation to the patient in order to optimize voice outcomes.

Understanding the 'Anorexic Voice' in Anorexia Nervosa.

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Pugh, Matthew; Waller, Glenn

2017-05-01

In common with individuals experiencing a number of disorders, people with anorexia nervosa report experiencing an internal 'voice'. The anorexic voice comments on the individual's eating, weight and shape and instructs the individual to restrict or compensate. However, the core characteristics of the anorexic voice are not known. This study aimed to develop a parsimonious model of the voice characteristics that are related to key features of eating disorder pathology and to determine whether patients with anorexia nervosa fall into groups with different voice experiences. The participants were 49 women with full diagnoses of anorexia nervosa. Each completed validated measures of the power and nature of their voice experience and of their responses to the voice. Different voice characteristics were associated with current body mass index, duration of disorder and eating cognitions. Two subgroups emerged, with 'weaker' and 'stronger' voice experiences. Those with stronger voices were characterized by having more negative eating attitudes, more severe compensatory behaviours, a longer duration of illness and a greater likelihood of having the binge-purge subtype of anorexia nervosa. The findings indicate that the anorexic voice is an important element of the psychopathology of anorexia nervosa. Addressing the anorexic voice might be helpful in enhancing outcomes of treatments for anorexia nervosa, but that conclusion might apply only to patients with more severe eating psychopathology. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Experiences of an internal 'anorexic voice' are common in anorexia nervosa. Clinicians should consider the role of the voice when formulating eating pathology in anorexia nervosa, including how individuals perceive and relate to that voice. Addressing the voice may be beneficial, particularly in more severe and enduring forms of anorexia nervosa. When working with the voice, clinicians should aim to address both the content of the voice and how

Empowerment of patients in online discussions about medicine use.

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van Berkel, Jasper J; Lambooij, Mattijs S; Hegger, Ingrid

2015-04-08

Patient empowerment is crucial in the successful self-management of people with chronic diseases. In this study, we investigated whether discussions about medicine use taking place on online message boards contribute to patient empowerment and could subsequently result in the more effective use of medicines. We discuss the extent to which patient empowerment processes occur in discussions on online message boards, focusing on patients with three disorders with different characteristics: diabetes, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Because information is an important factor in both patient empowerment and self-management, we also evaluate the quality of the information being exchanged. We used a deductive thematic analysis method based on pre-existing categories. We gathered and analysed 5532 posts related to the conditions ADHD, ALS and diabetes from seven message boards (three for ADHD, three for diabetes, and one for ALS). We coded the posts for empowerment processes and the quality of the information exchanged. We identified patient empowerment processes in posts related to all three disorders. There is some variation in the frequency of these processes, but they show a similar order in the results: patients used the online message boards to exchange information, share personal experiences and for empathy or support. The type of information shared in these processes could contribute to the patient's self-efficacy when it comes to medicine use. The exchanged information was either correct or largely harmless. We also observed a tendency whereby participants correct previously posted incorrect information, and refer people to a healthcare professional following a request for medical advice, e.g. concerning the choice of medicines or dosage. Our findings show that patient empowerment processes occur in posts related to all three disorders. The type of information shared in these processes can contribute to the

Concepts and measures of patient empowerment: a comprehensive review.

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Cerezo, Paloma Garcimartín; Juvé-Udina, Maria-Eulália; Delgado-Hito, Pilar

2016-01-01

Analyze the definitions and dimensions of empowerment. Identify the strengths and weaknesses of empowerment measures based on the conceptual model. This was a comprehensive literature review of publications on the MEDLINE and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) databases. Twenty-nine articles were selected. Seventeen definitions and seven dimensions of empowerment, and 10 empowerment measures were selected. Empowerment can be seen as an enabling process involving a shift in the balance of power, or as an outcome of this process. The dimensions reflect outcome indicators, such as participation in decision-making and control, and process indicators, such as knowledge acquisition and coping skills. Six of the tools analyzed by this study could be said to provide a robust measure of patient empowerment. we propose a definition of empowerment that helps to deepen understanding of the term and, therefore, its operationalization. Analizar definiciones y dimensiones de empoderamiento. Identificar fortalezas y debilidades de los instrumentos de medida de empoderamiento respecto al modelo conceptual. Revisión integrativa de la literatura en las bases de datos MEDLINE y Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL). Fueram seleccionados 29 artículos . Se identificaron 17 definiciones, 7 propuestas de dimensiones y 10 instrumentos de medida. Empoderamiento puede ser un proceso de capacitación o habilitación en el que se transfiere el poder de un individuo a otro, o bien un resultado producto de ese proceso. Las dimensiones reflejan indicadores de resultados como son la participación en la toma de decisiones y tomar el control, e indicadores relativos al proceso como son la adquisición de conocimientos y las habilidades de afrontamiento. De los instrumentos analizados seis son los instrumentos que presentan mayor robustez. Se propone una definición de empoderamiento que puede ayudar a mejorar la comprensión del t

The effects of the empowerment education program in older adults with total hip replacement surgery.

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Huang, Tzu-Ting; Sung, Chia-Chun; Wang, Woan-Shyuan; Wang, Bi-Hwa

2017-08-01

To measure the effectiveness of an education empowerment program on primary (self-efficacy and self-care competence) and secondary outcomes (Activities of Daily Life, mobility, depressive mood and quality of life) for older adults with total hip replacement surgery. Degenerative arthritis is a common and serious chronic illness that impacts the quality of life of older adults. As joints continue to degenerate and the hip damaged by arthritis, activities of daily life will be difficult to perform due to severe hip pain and joint stiffness. Therefore, hip replacement surgery should be considered and effective nursing care should be provided to improve the recovery of older adults. A prospective randomized control trial. A trial was conducted from September 2013 - May 2014 in two hospitals in northern Taiwan. 108 participants were random assigned to either the education empowerment group or in the comparison group. The researchers collected baseline data at admission and outcomes on the day of discharge, one month after and three months after the discharge. After the interventions, the education empowerment group participants demonstrated significantly higher self-care competence and self-efficacy and lower depressive inclinations compared with those in the comparison group. Participants in both groups significantly improved on activities of daily life, mobility and quality of life over the course of the interventions. This education empowerment intervention was very effective in enhancing participants' outcomes. Moreover, involving both older adults and their caregivers for the participation this program is recommended for a greater impact. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

IDENTITY AND EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN IN TRAINING PROJECT

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Déborah Delgado-Piña

2010-09-01

Full Text Available This work analyze the processes the identity changes and of empowerment in the case of a concrete experience of a group of women in the empowerment project, 2004, in Celaya, Guanajuato. The objective was to know the bond establish between both processes. For this analysis was used information provided through interviews, life stories and observation with seven promoter women who participate in the workshops in Celaya, Guanajuato, who were in the program of state trust fund ZUMAR-FIDEPO (Marginated urban areas-Trust fund for popular development. This program helps people who live in urban marginalized areas through the identification of their needs and problems, by means of community promoters. The Women institute of Guanajuato (IMUG, the United Nations for women fund (UNIFEM, and ZUMAR-FIDEPO were the institutions that were involved in the empowerment project in order to strengthen the process through the implementation of training workshops for the promoters training. In the study were included seven from twenty women who participate in the workshops, which remains in the state program making various activities such as: training in various activities, management of productive projects and they are community promoters. The analysis was carried out based on the speech of the promoters, what they say of themselves and the changes they detect in their identity taking into account the changes in self-esteem, in the auto-concept and the exercise of alternative forms to the authoritarian power.

The Empowerment Model: A Critical Reflection of Empowerment in Chinese Culture

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Yip, Kam-shing

2004-01-01

The empowerment model has long dominated social work practice in Western countries. Many social workers in Hong Kong use this model regardless of the social or cultural context. In this article the author shares local social work practice experiences in Hong Kong and suggests that the empowerment model may need adaptation in Chinese communities.…

WOMEN'S AGE AT FIRST MARRIAGE AND LONG-TERM ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT IN EGYPT.

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Yount, Kathryn M; Crandall, AliceAnn; Cheong, Yuk Fai

2018-02-01

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 calls on nations to promote gender equality and to empower women and girls. SDG5 also recognizes the value of women's economic empowerment, entailing equal rights to economic resources and full participation at all levels in economic decisions. Also according to SDG5, eliminating harmful practices-such as child marriage before age 18-is a prerequisite for women's economic empowerment. Using national data for 4,129 married women 15-43 years who took part in the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey (ELMPS 1998-2012), we performed autoregressive, cross-lagged panel analyses to assess whether women's first marriage in adulthood (at 18 years or older, as reported in 2006), was positively associated with their long-term post-marital economic empowerment, measured as their engagement in market work and latent family economic agency in 2012. Women's first marriage in adulthood had positive unadjusted associations with their market work and family economic agency in 2012. These associations persisted after accounting for market work and family economic agency in 2006, pre-marital resources for empowerment, and cumulative fertility. Policies to discourage child marriage may show promise to enhance women's long-term post-marital economic empowerment.

The intersection of antiretroviral therapy, peer support programmes, and economic empowerment with HIV stigma among HIV-positive women in West Nile Uganda.

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Kellett, Nicole Coffey; Gnauck, Katherine

2016-12-01

HIV stigma remains a major problem of the AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. Women fear impending social stigma including blame, isolation and abuse. HIV infection and HIV stigma interact cyclically, creating and reinforcing economic and social exclusion for individuals living with HIV. Evidence suggests that interventions for people living with HIV infection that include, in combination, antiretroviral therapy (ART), peer support and economic empowerment are likely to be more effective than if used alone. We report a qualitative study in West Nile Uganda that explored perceptions of HIV stigma among fifty-four HIV-positive women who had similar access to ART and HIV peer support programmes, but varying levels of participation (full-time, intermittent, none) in economic empowerment programmes. Our study found that access to ART, peer support groups, and economic empowerment programmes helped to curb perceptions of deep-seated HIV stigma for participants. More expressions of usefulness, hope and psychological well-being prevailed with participants who had increased participation in economic empowerment programmes. Our findings underscore the value of HIV outreach programmes which combine ART, peer support and economic empowerment to alleviate HIV stigma. Further research to quantify the interaction of these factors is warranted.

Connections between voice ergonomic risk factors and voice symptoms, voice handicap, and respiratory tract diseases.

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Rantala, Leena M; Hakala, Suvi J; Holmqvist, Sofia; Sala, Eeva

2012-11-01

The aim of the study was to investigate the connections between voice ergonomic risk factors found in classrooms and voice-related problems in teachers. Voice ergonomic assessment was performed in 39 classrooms in 14 elementary schools by means of a Voice Ergonomic Assessment in Work Environment--Handbook and Checklist. The voice ergonomic risk factors assessed included working culture, noise, indoor air quality, working posture, stress, and access to a sound amplifier. Teachers from the above-mentioned classrooms reported their voice symptoms, respiratory tract diseases, and completed a Voice Handicap Index (VHI). The more voice ergonomic risk factors found in the classroom the higher were the teachers' total scores on voice symptoms and VHI. Stress was the factor that correlated most strongly with voice symptoms. Poor indoor air quality increased the occurrence of laryngitis. Voice ergonomics were poor in the classrooms studied and voice ergonomic risk factors affected the voice. It is important to convey information on voice ergonomics to education administrators and those responsible for school planning and taking care of school buildings. Copyright © 2012 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Empowerment von Frauen in Indien

OpenAIRE

Langenbacher, Nora

2018-01-01

The aim of this dissertation was to study whether the participation of women in India’s local governance institutions, the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) which was guaranteed by a quota, really leads to empowerment. To counter the political and socio-economic marginalization of Indian women, a reservation of 33 per cent of all PRI-seats for women became law in 1993 as part of two constitutional amendments. Not only were the PRI expected to spark more sustainable bottom-up development; the ...

Effect of singing training on total laryngectomees wearing a tracheoesophageal voice prosthesis.

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Onofre, Fernanda; Ricz, Hilton Marcos Alves; Takeshita-Monaretti, Telma Kioko; Prado, Maria Yuka de Almeida; Aguiar-Ricz, Lílian Neto

2013-02-01

To assess the effect of a program of singing training on the voice of total laryngectomees wearing tracheoesophageal voice prosthesis, considering the quality of alaryngeal phonation, vocal extension and the musical elements of tunning and legato. Five laryngectomees wearing tracheoesophageal voice prosthesis completed the singing training program over a period of three months, with exploration of the strengthening of the respiratory muscles and vocalization and with evaluation of perceptive-auditory and singing voice being performed before and after 12 sessions of singing therapy. After the program of singing voice training, the quality of tracheoesophageal voice showed improvement or the persistence of the general degree of dysphonia for the emitted vowels and for the parameters of roughness and breathiness. For the vowel "a", the pitch was displaced to grave in two participants and to acute in one, and remained adequate in the others. A similar situation was observed also for the vowel "i". After the singing program, all participants presented tunning and most of them showed a greater presence of legato. The vocal extension improved in all participants. Singing training seems to have a favorable effect on the quality of tracheoesophageal phonation and on singing voice.

Empowerment and its implementation in the process of counteracting the phenomenon of youth and adult social exclusion – report on participation in an international project under the 2014-2016 Erasmus + Strategic Partnership project

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Jolanta Jarczyńska

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The aim of the article is to describe the empowerment process and its implementation in social work in the context of counteracting social exclusion in youth and adults based on the example of the project carried out in the years 2014-2016, titled: “Development of the empowerment of educators and beneficiaries in the field of youth at risk and social exclusion”, co-financed from European Union funds within the Erasmus + programme, Action 2: Strategic partnership of professional teaching and training, Grant No. 2014-1-FR01-KA2026-008728. The English language concept category of empowerment, which does not have a satisfactory equivalent term in the Polish language, was operationalised in this article. The essence of empowerment in the context of social work was described in the article, pointing to its significance mainly in the scope of counteracting the process of youth and adult social exclusion. Furthermore, the main assumptions of the implemented international project were set out in the ambit of the development of the empowerment of educators as well as of beneficiaries working with persons at risk of social exclusion, and the relationship and reflections of one of the project participants were also shown. An attempt was made in the article on the basis of the experiences gathered within the performance of the international research project to assess the course of the empowerment process and its usefulness in searching for solutions for educational practices in the domain of the social exclusion phenomenon.

Examining relational empowerment for elementary school students in a yPAR program.

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Langhout, Regina Day; Collins, Charles; Ellison, Erin Rose

2014-06-01

This paper joins relational empowerment, youth empowerment, and Bridging Multiple Worlds frameworks to examine forms of relational empowerment for children in two intermediary institutions-school and a youth participatory action research after-school program (yPAR ASP). Participants were twelve children, most of whom were Latina/o and from im/migrant families, enrolled in a yPAR ASP for 2 years. A mixed-method approach was utilized; we analyzed children's interviews, self-defined goals, and their social networks to examine their experiences of relational empowerment. We conclude that children experienced each of the five relational empowerment factors-collaborative competence, bridging social divisions, facilitating others' empowerment, mobilizing networks, and passing on a legacy-in the yPAR ASP setting, and some factors in school. These experiences, however, were more pronounced in the yPAR ASP setting. Additionally, social network analyses revealed that a small but meaningful percentage of actors bridged worlds, especially home and family, but by year 2, also school and the yPAR ASP. Finally, most helpers for school-based goals came from school, but a sizable number came from family, friends, and home worlds, and by year 2, also came from the yPAR ASP. Implications range from theoretical to methodological development, including the use of social network analysis as a tool to descriptively examine relational power in context.

Elucidating the Power in Empowerment and the Participation in Participatory Action Research: A Story About Research Team and Elementary School Change

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Dworski-Riggs, Deanne

2010-01-01

Community psychologists are increasingly using Participatory Action Research (PAR) as a way to promote social justice by creating conditions that foster empowerment. Yet, little attention has been paid to the differences between the power structure that PAR advocates and the local community power structures. This paper seeks to evaluate the level of participation in a PAR project for multiple stakeholder groups, determine how PAR was adjusted to better fit community norms, and whether our research team was able to facilitate the emergence of PAR by adopting an approach that was relevant to the existing power relations. We conclude that power differences should not be seen as roadblocks to participation, but rather as moments of opportunity for the researchers to refine their methods and for the community and the community psychologist to challenge existing power structures. PMID:20232244

Empowerment Evaluation: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

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Fetterman, David; Wandersman, Abraham

2007-01-01

Empowerment evaluation continues to crystallize central issues for evaluators and the field of evaluation. A highly attended American Evaluation Association conference panel, titled "Empowerment Evaluation and Traditional Evaluation: 10 Years Later," provided an opportunity to reflect on the evolution of empowerment evaluation. Several…

Psychometric Support for the Ownership in Exercise and Empowerment in Exercise Scales

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Moore, E. Whitney G.; Fry, Mary D.

2014-01-01

This study's purpose was to examine the psychometric properties of two new scales developed to quantitatively measure participants' ownership in exercise classes and empowerment, with respect to exercise. These two outcome measures will compliment Achievement Goal Perspective Theory (AGPT) grounded research to better understand participants'…

Promoting group empowerment and self-reliance through participatory research: a case study of people with physical disability.

Science.gov (United States)

Stewart, R; Bhagwanjee, A

1999-07-01

Despite the growing popularity of the empowerment construct among social scientists, relatively few empowerment studies involving groupwork with people with physical disabilities exist. This article accordingly describes and analyses the organic development of the empowerment process within a spinal cord injury self-help group, set against the backdrop of policy imperatives for disability in post-apartheid South Africa. The treatise on the group empowerment process is located within the context of a group evaluation conducted within a participatory research framework. Key variables informing the research approach included: quality of participation, control over resources and decision-making, shift in critical consciousness and understanding, malleability of roles within the group and role of the health professional. Group members assumed ownership of group management and decision-making and shifted from a professionally-led to a peer-led self-help group. Group objectives changed from providing mutual support to community education and outreach activities. The role of the health professional shifted from group facilitator to invited consultant. This case study demonstrates how group participation, promoted by a critically informed therapeutic and research praxis, can unlock the inherent potential for self-reliance and empowerment of socially marginalized collectives. It offers important insights with regard to group process, participatory research and the role of the health professional in creating opportunities for empowerment and self-reliance of people with disability.

Staff Nurses’ Perceptions and Experiences about Structural Empowerment: A Qualitative Phenomenological Study

Science.gov (United States)

Van Bogaert, Peter; Peremans, Lieve; Diltour, Nadine; Van heusden, Danny; Dilles, Tinne; Van Rompaey, Bart; Havens, Donna Sullivan

2016-01-01

The aim of the study reported in this article was to investigate staff nurses’ perceptions and experiences about structural empowerment and perceptions regarding the extent to which structural empowerment supports safe quality patient care. To address the complex needs of patients, staff nurse involvement in clinical and organizational decision-making processes within interdisciplinary care settings is crucial. A qualitative study was conducted using individual semi-structured interviews of 11 staff nurses assigned to medical or surgical units in a 600-bed university hospital in Belgium. During the study period, the hospital was going through an organizational transformation process to move from a classic hierarchical and departmental organizational structure to one that was flat and interdisciplinary. Staff nurses reported experiencing structural empowerment and they were willing to be involved in decision-making processes primarily about patient care within the context of their practice unit. However, participants were not always fully aware of the challenges and the effect of empowerment on their daily practice, the quality of care and patient safety. Ongoing hospital change initiatives supported staff nurses’ involvement in decision-making processes for certain matters but for some decisions, a classic hierarchical and departmental process still remained. Nurses perceived relatively high work demands and at times viewed empowerment as presenting additional. Staff nurses recognized the opportunities structural empowerment provided within their daily practice. Nurse managers and unit climate were seen as crucial for success while lack of time and perceived work demands were viewed as barriers to empowerment. PMID:27035457

Staff Nurses' Perceptions and Experiences about Structural Empowerment: A Qualitative Phenomenological Study.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Van Bogaert

Full Text Available The aim of the study reported in this article was to investigate staff nurses' perceptions and experiences about structural empowerment and perceptions regarding the extent to which structural empowerment supports safe quality patient care. To address the complex needs of patients, staff nurse involvement in clinical and organizational decision-making processes within interdisciplinary care settings is crucial. A qualitative study was conducted using individual semi-structured interviews of 11 staff nurses assigned to medical or surgical units in a 600-bed university hospital in Belgium. During the study period, the hospital was going through an organizational transformation process to move from a classic hierarchical and departmental organizational structure to one that was flat and interdisciplinary. Staff nurses reported experiencing structural empowerment and they were willing to be involved in decision-making processes primarily about patient care within the context of their practice unit. However, participants were not always fully aware of the challenges and the effect of empowerment on their daily practice, the quality of care and patient safety. Ongoing hospital change initiatives supported staff nurses' involvement in decision-making processes for certain matters but for some decisions, a classic hierarchical and departmental process still remained. Nurses perceived relatively high work demands and at times viewed empowerment as presenting additional. Staff nurses recognized the opportunities structural empowerment provided within their daily practice. Nurse managers and unit climate were seen as crucial for success while lack of time and perceived work demands were viewed as barriers to empowerment.

The Sound of Voice: Voice-Based Categorization of Speakers' Sexual Orientation within and across Languages.

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Simone Sulpizio

Full Text Available Empirical research had initially shown that English listeners are able to identify the speakers' sexual orientation based on voice cues alone. However, the accuracy of this voice-based categorization, as well as its generalizability to other languages (language-dependency and to non-native speakers (language-specificity, has been questioned recently. Consequently, we address these open issues in 5 experiments: First, we tested whether Italian and German listeners are able to correctly identify sexual orientation of same-language male speakers. Then, participants of both nationalities listened to voice samples and rated the sexual orientation of both Italian and German male speakers. We found that listeners were unable to identify the speakers' sexual orientation correctly. However, speakers were consistently categorized as either heterosexual or gay on the basis of how they sounded. Moreover, a similar pattern of results emerged when listeners judged the sexual orientation of speakers of their own and of the foreign language. Overall, this research suggests that voice-based categorization of sexual orientation reflects the listeners' expectations of how gay voices sound rather than being an accurate detector of the speakers' actual sexual identity. Results are discussed with regard to accuracy, acoustic features of voices, language dependency and language specificity.

Promoting Women's Economic Empowerment in Cambodia

OpenAIRE

Asian Development Bank (ADB); Asian Development Bank (ADB); Asian Development Bank (ADB); Asian Development Bank (ADB)

2015-01-01

Women’s economic empowerment is essential for more inclusive growth in Cambodia. This study takes stock of major gender issues in the Cambodian economy seen through the lens of women’s participation, benefit, and agency—the three prerequisites for a fairer distribution of growth benefits. It examines labor market trends and obstacles to women’s economic empowerment—particularly in agriculture, business development, and wage employment. Labor migration and vulnerability to shocks are highlight...

Demystifying organizational empowerment.

Science.gov (United States)

Tebbitt, B V

1993-01-01

The definition, implementation, and integration of empowerment concepts and principles is something of an enigma in healthcare organizations. As our structures become less hierarchical and more interactive, relying on vision, knowledge, performance, and example to achieve our missions, nurse executives must know not only why empowerment is essential, but how it can be used to transform their organizations from traditional into futuristic structures and systems.

Patient empowerment and involvement in telemedicine

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Konge Nielsen, Marie; Johannessen, Helle

2018-01-01

Basic ideas of empowerment and user involvement in relation to telemedicine are presented, as is a case implying user resistance to telemedicine. Four logics of empowerment are employed to identify the underlying rationale of specific cases of telemedicine. The article concludes, that although...... telemedicine is acknowledged as relevant, the approach to it is often too mechanical to imply empowerment of the patient. Some patient groups may not feel safe by using telemedicine, and user involvement and empowerment will not be possible....

Empowerment and occupation: A new perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Hammell, Karen R Whalley

2016-12-01

The idea of empowerment permeates the occupational therapy literature yet has received little critical reflection from occupational therapy's theorists. This paper aims to explore the concept of empowerment and highlight a recent definition that resonates with occupational therapists' core values. Empowerment is generally understood to be a process of bestowing power and giving ability to someone deficient in both. However, a new definition provides a framework for understanding how empowerment might enhance people's capabilities. The World Bank's depiction of empowerment fits well with occupational therapists' beliefs in the importance of the ability and opportunity to "do," providing a framework for action. This framework focuses on people's capabilities: their freedom-or opportunity-to choose what they wish to do and to be and their ability to act on these wishes. Moreover, the World Bank's assertion that empowered people have freedom of both choice and action suggests empowerment is a relevant concept for occupational therapists.

The effect of singing training on voice quality for people with quadriplegia.

Science.gov (United States)

Tamplin, Jeanette; Baker, Felicity A; Buttifant, Mary; Berlowitz, David J

2014-01-01

Despite anecdotal reports of voice impairment in quadriplegia, the exact nature of these impairments is not well described in the literature. This article details objective and subjective voice assessments for people with quadriplegia at baseline and after a respiratory-targeted singing intervention. Randomized controlled trial. Twenty-four participants with quadriplegia were randomly assigned to a 12-week program of either a singing intervention or active music therapy control. Recordings of singing and speech were made at baseline, 6 weeks, 12 weeks, and 6 months postintervention. These deidentified recordings were used to measure sound pressure levels and assess voice quality using the Multidimensional Voice Profile and the Perceptual Voice Profile. Baseline voice quality data indicated deviation from normality in the areas of breathiness, strain, and roughness. A greater percentage of intervention participants moved toward more normal voice quality in terms of jitter, shimmer, and noise-to-harmonic ratio; however, the improvements failed to achieve statistical significance. Subjective and objective assessments of voice quality indicate that quadriplegia may have a detrimental effect on voice quality; in particular, causing a perception of roughness and breathiness in the voice. The results of this study suggest that singing training may have a role in ameliorating these voice impairments. Copyright © 2014 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Moringa oleifera as a Source of Economic Empowerment for ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The study investigated the use of Moringa oleifera as a source of economic empowerment for farmers in Bomo Village, Sabon Gari Local Government Area of Kaduna State. Twenty farmers whose previous knowledge of the tree was first investigated through oral discussion were randomly selected to participate in the study.

Empowerment in adolescents and young adults with cancer: Relationship with health-related quality of life.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaal, Suzanne E J; Husson, Olga; van Duivenboden, Saskia; Jansen, Rosemarie; Manten-Horst, Eveliene; Servaes, Petra; Prins, Judith B; van den Berg, Sanne W; van der Graaf, Winette T A

2017-10-15

The difficulties adolescents and young adults (AYAs) encounter during a cancer experience may result in a reduction in or absence of empowerment. The aims of the current study were to assess levels of empowerment and associated (demographic, clinical, or psychological) factors and examine the association between empowerment and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among AYA patients with cancer. Patients aged 18 to 35 years at time of cancer diagnosis and who were seen by 1 of the members of the specialized multidisciplinary AYA team of the Radboud University Medical Center were invited to complete questionnaires regarding empowerment; HRQOL; and sociodemographic, clinical, and psychological characteristics (autonomy, coping, unmet social support needs, and psychological distress). A total of 83 AYA patients completed the questionnaires. The mean age of the participants at the time of diagnosis was 27.5 years. The vast majority had been treated with chemotherapy (86%), had a more advanced stage of disease, and had completed treatment at the time of participation (74%). The mean empowerment level was 154.1 (standard deviation, 17.8) with a range of 114 to 200. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that the autonomy subscales of self-awareness (β = .35), capacity for managing new situations (β = .19), and social support (β = .35) were found to be positively associated with empowerment. Coping difficulties (β = -.19) were found to be negatively associated with empowerment. Empowerment was independently associated with physical (β = .31), psychological (β = .50), social (β = .39), religious (β = .33), and total HRQOL (β = .52; all Pempowerment were associated with low levels of autonomy and social support, female sex, and coping difficulties among AYA patients with cancer. Recognizing these patients as candidates for empowerment interventions ultimately could help to improve HRQOL in late adolescence and young adulthood. Cancer 2017;123:4039-47. © 2017 The

Empowerment in adolescents and young adults with cancer: Relationship with health‐related quality of life

Science.gov (United States)

Kaal, Suzanne E.J.; Husson, Olga; van Duivenboden, Saskia; Jansen, Rosemarie; Manten‐Horst, Eveliene; Servaes, Petra; Prins, Judith B.; van den Berg, Sanne W.

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND The difficulties adolescents and young adults (AYAs) encounter during a cancer experience may result in a reduction in or absence of empowerment. The aims of the current study were to assess levels of empowerment and associated (demographic, clinical, or psychological) factors and examine the association between empowerment and health‐related quality of life (HRQOL) among AYA patients with cancer. METHODS Patients aged 18 to 35 years at time of cancer diagnosis and who were seen by 1 of the members of the specialized multidisciplinary AYA team of the Radboud University Medical Center were invited to complete questionnaires regarding empowerment; HRQOL; and sociodemographic, clinical, and psychological characteristics (autonomy, coping, unmet social support needs, and psychological distress). RESULTS A total of 83 AYA patients completed the questionnaires. The mean age of the participants at the time of diagnosis was 27.5 years. The vast majority had been treated with chemotherapy (86%), had a more advanced stage of disease, and had completed treatment at the time of participation (74%). The mean empowerment level was 154.1 (standard deviation, 17.8) with a range of 114 to 200. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that the autonomy subscales of self‐awareness (β = .35), capacity for managing new situations (β = .19), and social support (β = .35) were found to be positively associated with empowerment. Coping difficulties (β = ‐.19) were found to be negatively associated with empowerment. Empowerment was independently associated with physical (β = .31), psychological (β = .50), social (β = .39), religious (β = .33), and total HRQOL (β = .52; all Pempowerment were associated with low levels of autonomy and social support, female sex, and coping difficulties among AYA patients with cancer. Recognizing these patients as candidates for empowerment interventions ultimately could help to improve HRQOL in late adolescence and young adulthood. Cancer

Interplay between economic empowerment and sexual behaviour and practices of migrant workers within the context of HIV and AIDS in the Lesotho textile industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Tanga, Pius Tangwe; Tangwe, Magdaline Nji

2014-01-01

Economic empowerment brings with it a wide range of consequences, both positive and negative. The objective of this paper was to examine the relationship between economic empowerment and the sexual behaviour and practices of migrant workers within the context of HIV and AIDS in the Lesotho textile industry. Data for this paper were extracted from the findings of a larger study which had been conducted concerning HIV and AIDS in the textile industry in Lesotho. Using in-depth interviews, data were collected from 40 participants who were purposively selected from five factories which had been chosen randomly. Empowerment theory was used as a lens to provide meanings for the experiences of the participants. The findings show that the participants were empowered only in certain respects in terms of Kabeer's empowerment model of 'power to' and 'power within', on one hand, and in terms of Malhotra's comprehensive empowerment framework at the household level, on the other, as being employed in the industry enabled them to participate in the economy. Employment in the sector provided the participants with the means to be able to acquire basic needs and the ability to participate in household decision-making: for the female participants, the ability to make independent sexual decisions was also enhanced. These improvements were greeted enthusiastically, particularly by the female participants, given their previously disadvantaged status as a result of coming from rural patriarchal villages with gender-defined hegemonic notions of respectability. The findings also indicate that environmental factors and others, such as meagre salaries, encouraged some of the female workers to engage in transactional sex, while some of the male participants tended to increase their sexual relationships as a result of acquiring employment and income from the industry. It is the contention of the authors of this study that true empowerment requires both vital resources and individual and

ARE THERE ANY DIFFERENCES IN TEACHERS’ WORK-ORIENTED BEHAVIOR DEPENDING ON THE LEVEL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL EMPOWERMENT?: A FIELD STUDY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

İsmail BAKAN

2018-04-01

Full Text Available In a globalizing competitive business environment competitive advantage is an important source of human resources and because it is thought that the empowered employee will contribute more to the business,  it is an important issue for today's business to reveal how to make a difference in the behavior of the empowered employees in the workplace because the empowered employee is thought to contribute more to the business  The purpose of this study is to highlight the role of psychological empowerment in work-oriented behaviors. In order to achieve this aim, the relationships between psychological empowerment and work-related behaviors (Participatory Decision Making, Job Performance, Job Satisfaction, Work-Family Conflict, Family-Job Conflict, Role Conflict, Role Uncertainty were examined and then related to different levels of psychological empowerment, it was researched whether there was a significant difference in participants' perception of work-related behavior. Significant differences were found between participant decision making, job performance, job satisfaction, family-work conflict, role conflict, and role ambiguity perceptions, depending on the level of psychological empowerment of the teachers.These findings show that differences occur in work-related behaviors according to the level of psychological empowerment of employees, supports the literature which argues that psychological empowerment has significant influence on behavior.

The Politics of Inclusion and Empowerment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, John; Siim, Birte

The objective of the book is to analyse different politics of inclusion and empowerment and the different paradigms of inclusion/exclusion in order to underline the close link between politics of scoial equality and politics of recognition of ciultural difference. Politics of inclusion is thus...... identities. Politics of empowerment has to do with the agency and mobilisation dimension of social and political change. The title of the book "Politics of Inclusion and Empowerment" address the leitmotiv: namely to discuss plussumgame between politics of inclusion and politics of empowerment...

Empowerment Perceptions of Employees in Hotel Enterprises

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Şenol ÇAVUŞ

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The concept of empowerment, which is applicable for any social group that the person belongs to, is an essential phenomenon for continuity and success of the organization. The main purpose of this study is to determine the empowerment perceptions of employees in hotel industry. The research was conducted in four and five star hotels that operate in the city of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and 170 employees were reached at those hotels. Empowerment perceptions of the employees were measured using the scales “Conditions of Work Effectiveness Questionnaire-II, CWEQ-II” and “Psychological Empowerment Scale, PES”. As a result of factor analysis made on the scales, it was observed that structural empowerment and psychological empowerment perceptions were grouped into three sub-dimensions. And in comparisons based on demographic factors; it was ob served that perceptions of empowerment have clearly differentiated according to level of education, level of income, hotel class, tourism education position, employee position.

Empowerment Perceptions of Employees in Hotel Enterprises

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Şenol Çavuş

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The concept of empowerment, which is applicable for any social group that the person belongs to, is an essential phenomenon for continuity and success of the organization. The main purpose of this study is to determine the empowerment perceptions of employees in hotel industry. The research was conducted in four and five star hotels that operate in the city of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and 170 employees were reached at those hotels. Empowerment perceptions of the employees were measured using the scales “Conditions of Work Effectiveness Questionnaire-II, CWEQ-II”and “Psychological Empowerment Scale, PES”. As a result of factor analysis made on the scales, it was observed that structural empowerment and psychological empowerment perceptions were grouped into three sub- dimensions. And in comparisons based on demographic factors; it was ob served that perceptions of empowerment have clearly differentiated according to level of education, level of income, hotel class, tourism education position, employee position

On power and empowerment.

Science.gov (United States)

Pratto, Felicia

2016-03-01

This study presents a conceptual analysis of social power. The most common theories of power are social-relational, an approach instantiated in a range of contemporary experiments that give participants the chance to control other people's outcomes. The relational approach is also reflected in various analyses of international relations. In comparing and contrasting relational theories of power, I identify logical inconsistencies and shortcomings in their ability to address empowerment and reductions in inequality. In turn, I propose a new ecological conceptualization of empowerment as the state of being able to achieve one's goals and of power as stemming from a combination of the capacity of the party and the affordances of the environment. I explain how this new conceptualization can describe the main kinds of power social relations, avoid logical contradictions, and moreover, distinguish power from agency and from control. This new conceptualization of power as the possibility of meeting goals, coupled with recognizing survival as the fundamental goal of all living things, implies an absolute and not relative or relational standard for power, namely well-being. It also allows us to conceive of power in ways that help address the many social concerns that have motivated research on power. © 2015 The British Psychological Society.

Memory for faces and voices varies as a function of sex and expressed emotion.

Science.gov (United States)

S Cortes, Diana; Laukka, Petri; Lindahl, Christina; Fischer, Håkan

2017-01-01

We investigated how memory for faces and voices (presented separately and in combination) varies as a function of sex and emotional expression (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and neutral). At encoding, participants judged the expressed emotion of items in forced-choice tasks, followed by incidental Remember/Know recognition tasks. Results from 600 participants showed that accuracy (hits minus false alarms) was consistently higher for neutral compared to emotional items, whereas accuracy for specific emotions varied across the presentation modalities (i.e., faces, voices, and face-voice combinations). For the subjective sense of recollection ("remember" hits), neutral items received the highest hit rates only for faces, whereas for voices and face-voice combinations anger and fear expressions instead received the highest recollection rates. We also observed better accuracy for items by female expressers, and own-sex bias where female participants displayed memory advantage for female faces and face-voice combinations. Results further suggest that own-sex bias can be explained by recollection, rather than familiarity, rates. Overall, results show that memory for faces and voices may be influenced by the expressions that they carry, as well as by the sex of both items and participants. Emotion expressions may also enhance the subjective sense of recollection without enhancing memory accuracy.

Memory for faces and voices varies as a function of sex and expressed emotion.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Diana S Cortes

Full Text Available We investigated how memory for faces and voices (presented separately and in combination varies as a function of sex and emotional expression (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and neutral. At encoding, participants judged the expressed emotion of items in forced-choice tasks, followed by incidental Remember/Know recognition tasks. Results from 600 participants showed that accuracy (hits minus false alarms was consistently higher for neutral compared to emotional items, whereas accuracy for specific emotions varied across the presentation modalities (i.e., faces, voices, and face-voice combinations. For the subjective sense of recollection ("remember" hits, neutral items received the highest hit rates only for faces, whereas for voices and face-voice combinations anger and fear expressions instead received the highest recollection rates. We also observed better accuracy for items by female expressers, and own-sex bias where female participants displayed memory advantage for female faces and face-voice combinations. Results further suggest that own-sex bias can be explained by recollection, rather than familiarity, rates. Overall, results show that memory for faces and voices may be influenced by the expressions that they carry, as well as by the sex of both items and participants. Emotion expressions may also enhance the subjective sense of recollection without enhancing memory accuracy.

Beyond "banking for the poor": credit mechanisms and women's empowerment.

Science.gov (United States)

Albee, A

1996-10-01

This article describes some strengths and limitations of credit programs for women in developing countries. It is urged that development planners recognize the importance of the selection of the type of credit mechanism in the long term. Ethical issues should be decided upon before the credit mechanism is operable. Organizations should make clear what level of commitment there is to empower borrowers. Most organizations give loans to women and assume empowerment will take place without devising strategies to ensure empowerment. Credit mechanisms include credit for the poor and credit by the poor. A sound financial portfolio and 100% repayment are not the appropriate criteria for securing the empowerment of women. Empowerment of women is related to "building the capacity of borrowers to manage and control decision making." UNICEF's framework of gender equality and women's empowerment identifies levels of empowerment as "welfare, access, conscientisation, participation, and control." Development planners should be aware that provision of credit also has the potential to increase a poor family's debt. Delinquency may be hidden by overlapping loans that trap borrowers. Fewer installment payments increase the chances of a debt trap. Reducing the number of installments may reduce administrative costs and conform to production processes, but may also lead to a debt trap. There is now considerable emphasis on investing in low-income women entrepreneurs as a highly efficient means of achieving social and economic objectives. Credit programs aim to support the growth of small, self-sustaining businesses, to improve women's opportunities, and to provide alternatives to exploitation by local money-lenders. This article describes the following credit mechanisms: bank guarantee systems, government credit schemes, intermediary projects, direct lending projects, banks for the poor, credit unions, and village-based banks.

Workplace empowerment and organizational commitment among nurses working at the Main University Hospital, Alexandria, Egypt.

Science.gov (United States)

Ibrahem, Samaa Z; Elhoseeny, Taghareed; Mahmoud, Rasha A

2013-08-01

High-quality patient care depends on a nursing workforce that is empowered to provide care according to professional nursing standards. Numerous studies have established positive relationships between empowerment and important nursing outcomes such as work effectiveness, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. A cross-sectional study design was used to assess the relationships between structural and psychological empowerment and their effects on hospital nurses' organizational commitment at the Main University Hospital in Alexandria governorate. The total number of nurses who participated in the study was 150 nurses, and four interview questionnaires were used to measure the study variables. The mean score percentage was higher for overall psychological empowerment (68.75%) than for overall structural empowerment (46.25%). There was a significant direct intermediate correlation between nurses' perceptions of overall structural and psychological work empowerment and their overall organizational commitment. There was no significant relationship between structural and psychological empowerment, organizational commitment and sociodemographic characteristics of nurses except for the overall organizational commitment with age (r=0.260), overall structural empowerment in the working department (P=0.031), and overall organizational commitment with nursing experience (significance=0.025). Overall psychological empowerment achieved a higher mean score percentage compared with overall structural empowerment. Changing workplace structures is within the mandate of nurses' managers in their roles as advocates for and facilitators of high-quality care. The most significant opportunity for improvement is in the area of formal power, including flexibility, adaptability, creativity associated with discretionary decision-making, visibility, and centrality to organizational purpose and goals.

Protegiendo Nuestra Comunidad: empowerment participatory education for HIV prevention.

Science.gov (United States)

McQuiston, C; Choi-Hevel, S; Clawson, M

2001-10-01

To be effective, HIV/AIDS interventions must be culturally and linguistically appropriate and must occur within the context of the specific community in which they are delivered. In this article, the development of a culture-specific lay health advisor (LHA) program, Protegiendo Nuestra Comunidad, for recently immigrated Mexicans is described. This program is one component of a collaborative inquiry research project involving community participants and researchers working as partners in carrying out and assessing a program for the prevention of HIV/AIDS. The collaborative inquiry process was applied as an empowerment philosophy and methodology of Paulo Freire and an ecological framework was used for the development of Protegiendo Nuestra Comunidad. The use of principles of empowerment for curriculum development, teaching methodology, and program delivery are described.

Politics of Inclusion and Empowerment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, John; Siim, Birte

2004-01-01

identities. Politics of empowerment has to do with the agency and mobilisation dimension of social and political change. The title of the book "Politics of Inclusion and Empowerment" address the leitmotiv: namely to discuss plussumgame between politics of inclusion and politics of empowerment......The objective of the book is to analyse different politics of inclusion and empowerment and the different paradigms of inclusion/exclusion in order to underline the close link between politics of scoial equality and politics of recognition of ciultural difference. Politics of inclusion is thus...... theproductive/innovative linkage of politics of redistributuin and politics og resognition, whnich over a longer time span creates sustainable paths of democratic and social development, which increases the capacity to handle both conflicts about economic resources and life-chances and conflicts about...

Agency-based empowerment training enhances sales capacity of female energy entrepreneurs in Kenya.

Science.gov (United States)

Shankar, Anita V; Onyura, MaryAlice; Alderman, Jessica

2015-01-01

Globally, women's involvement in clean cooking value chains has been minimal. This is partly because of the multiple challenges faced by women that impede their capacity to effectively engage in the energy sector. To better discern gender-specific differences in involvement in the energy sector, the authors conducted a randomized trial in Kenya to compare sales performance of newly trained male and female improved cookstove entrepreneurs and to test the effects of an agency-based empowerment training on business activity. A total of 257 entrepreneurs completed either a 4-day entrepreneurial training (control) or a 4-day empowerment training (intervention) and were followed for nearly 8 months documenting business activity and sales. The empowerment training led to more than doubling of sales for both genders. In addition, participants in the intervention group were significantly more likely to demonstrate business commitment over time and nearly three times more likely to be higher sellers (relative risk = 2.7, 95% CI [1.4, 5.4]), controlling for gender and rural/urban locale. Women outsold men by a margin of nearly 3 to 1 and were more likely to continue to pursue leads despite limited sales. Nonactive participants (those selling 1 improved cookstove or less) were a larger percentage of the control group (72%) than the intervention group (50%), and more men were nonactive participants (65% of men) compared with women (56% of women).These data show that women can serve as active improved cookstove entrepreneurs in both urban and rural settings and that targeted agency-based empowerment training can significantly increase women's capacity to engage effectively within the improved cookstove value chain.

Evaluation of empowerment processes in a workplace health promotion intervention based on learning in Sweden.

Science.gov (United States)

Arneson, Hanna; Ekberg, Kerstin

2005-12-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate a theory-based method for workplace health promotion (WHP) with regard to possible facilitation of empowerment processes. The intervention tool was the pedagogic method known as problem-based learning (PBL). The aim of the intervention was to promote empowerment and health among the employees. The intervention was implemented in three organizations within the public sector in Sweden, in a bottom-up approach. All employees, including management, in each organization, were offered the opportunity to participate (n = 113) and 87% (n = 97) participated. The intervention was implemented in 13 groups of six to eight participants who met once a week over a period of 4 months. The predetermined overall goal of the intervention was to promote employee health within the organizational setting. A facilitator in each group and a group-specific mutual agreement guided the intervention, as did the problem solving process. The participants set goals and developed strategies to reach their goals between the meetings. Thirty informants were interviewed in seven focus groups after the intervention about the intervention method and the process, following a semi-structured theme guide. The phenomenographic analysis resulted in six descriptive categories: reflection, awareness and insight, self-direction and self-management, group coherence, social support and actions. The results correspond to established theories of components of empowerment processes. The method initiated processes of change at organizational, workplace and individual levels as the participants examined their work situation, determined problems and initiated solutions. Social support and group coherence were expressed as essential in order to transform challenging strategies into action and goal realization. The findings indicate that systematic improvements of social support and group coherence among employees ought to be facilitated by the organization as a health

The Nexus Between Health Literacy and Empowerment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kristine Crondahl

2016-04-01

Full Text Available The aim of this article was to explore what is known about the assumed connection between health literacy and empowerment and how this connection is portrayed in the scientific literature. If empowerment is an outcome of health literacy, what are the mechanisms behind this process? A literature search conducted in 2013 yielded 216 hits, of which five met the inclusion criteria, and thus were read in depth and analyzed through a narrative-review approach. The findings indicate that health literacy might be regarded as a tool for empowerment but does not automatically lead to empowerment. Health literacy might be increased by health education. Crucial for empowerment is to achieve the critical level of health literacy including an ability to question and reflect on the prevailing power relations and societal conditions; increased senses of power, self-esteem, and self-efficacy; and an ability to utilize these resources to engage in social and political action for change. This article suggests that for health literacy to be critical to empowerment, there must be a focus on social health determinants and individuals’ subjective perceptions of health and health needs. The article proposes functional and interactive health literacy as a form of capacity building for health and empowerment and critical health literacy as a way to describe empowerment. This scoping review indicates a research gap and a need for future research examining the relationship between health literacy and empowerment.

Assessing women empowerment in Africa

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Adjei, Stephen Baffour

2015-01-01

Programme (UNDP) as a universal benchmark for assessing gender inequality. It has been highlighted that agency is a necessary component in the conceptualisation and realisation of women empowerment particularly in Africa. The article further demonstrates that the GEM has capitalist, elitist and Eurocentric......This review discusses the religious and cultural challenges to the empowerment of women in some patriarchal societies in Africa. The article takes a critical reflection on some of the contextual deficiencies of the gender empowerment measure (GEM) developed by the United Nations Development...

Possible cross-cultural differences in the perception of impact of voice disorders.

Science.gov (United States)

Yiu, Edwin M-L; Ho, Elaine M; Ma, Estella P-M; Verdolini Abbott, Katherine; Branski, Ryan; Richardson, Katherine; Li, Nicole Y-K

2011-05-01

Perception of the impact of voice disorders may differ across different cultural backgrounds. This study investigated the difference in the perception of the impact of voice disorders between the American (Pittsburgh) and Chinese (Hong Kong) cultures. Sixty dysphonic subjects from Hong Kong, China, and 60 dysphonic subjects from Pittsburgh, USA, were recruited to complete the Chinese and English versions of the Voice Activity and Participation Profile (VAPP), respectively. Data analyses using independent t tests were conducted on (1) the total profile scores; (b) total activity limitation score (ALS) and total participation restriction score (PRS); (c) section scores of job, daily communication, and social communication; and (d) section ALS and section PRS. Hong Kong subjects showed significantly higher scores than the Pittsburgh subjects in total profile and other subsections except in the job PRS. RESULTS support the possible influence of individualist and collectivist cultures on the perceived impact of voice disorders on the activity and participation. Copyright © 2011 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Effect of Spinal Manipulative Therapy on the Singing Voice.

Science.gov (United States)

Fachinatto, Ana Paula A; Duprat, André de Campos; Silva, Marta Andrada E; Bracher, Eduardo Sawaya Botelho; Benedicto, Camila de Carvalho; Luz, Victor Botta Colangelo; Nogueira, Maruan Nogueira; Fonseca, Beatriz Suster Gomes

2015-09-01

This study investigated the effect of spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) on the singing voice of male individuals. Randomized, controlled, case-crossover trial. Twenty-nine subjects were selected among male members of the Heralds of the Gospel. This association was chosen because it is a group of persons with similar singing activities. Participants were randomly assigned to two groups: (A) chiropractic SMT procedure and (B) nontherapeutic transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) procedure. Recordings of the singing voice of each participant were taken immediately before and after the procedures. After a 14-day period, procedures were switched between groups: participants who underwent SMT on the first day were subjected to TENS and vice versa. Recordings were subjected to perceptual audio and acoustic evaluations. The same recording segment of each participant was selected. Perceptual audio evaluation was performed by a specialist panel (SP). Recordings of each participant were randomly presented thus making the SP blind to intervention type and recording session (before/after intervention). Recordings compiled in a randomized order were also subjected to acoustic evaluation. No differences in the quality of the singing on perceptual audio evaluation were observed between TENS and SMT. No differences in the quality of the singing voice of asymptomatic male singers were observed on perceptual audio evaluation or acoustic evaluation after a single spinal manipulative intervention of the thoracic and cervical spine. Copyright © 2015 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The influence of passion and empowerment on organizational citizenship behavior of teachers mediated by organizational commitment

OpenAIRE

Cheasakul, Uree; Varma, Parvathy

2016-01-01

Abstract: The present research aims to study the direct and indirect influence of passion and empowerment on organizational citizenship behavior of teachers in a private university in Thailand mediated by organizational commitment. The sample comprises 124 teachers teaching in the university and the Organizational Citizenship Behavior Scale, adapted by Podsakoff and Mackenzie (1990), Passion Scale, developed by Vallerand, Carbonneau, Fernet and Guay (2008), School Participant Empowerment Scal...

Reflections on Empowerment Evaluation: Learning from Experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Fetterman, David M.

1999-01-01

Reflects on empowerment evaluation, the use of evaluation to foster improvement and self-determination. Empowerment evaluation uses quantitative and qualitative methods, and usually focuses on program evaluation. Discusses the growth in empowerment evaluation as a result of interest in participatory evaluation. (SLD)

Objective Voice Parameters in Colombian School Workers with Healthy Voices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lady Catherine Cantor Cutiva

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Objectives: To characterize the objective voice parameters among school workers, and to identi­fy associated factors of three objective voice parameters, namely fundamental frequency, sound pressure level and maximum phonation time. Materials and methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study among 116 Colombian teachers and 20 Colombian non-teachers. After signing the informed consent form, participants filled out a questionnaire. Then, a voice sample was recorded and evaluated perceptually by a speech therapist and by objective voice analysis with praat software. Short-term environmental measurements of sound level, temperature, humi­dity, and reverberation time were conducted during visits at the workplaces, such as classrooms and offices. Linear regression analysis was used to determine associations between individual and work-related factors and objective voice parameters. Results: Compared with men, women had higher fundamental frequency (201 Hz for teachers and 209 for non-teachers vs. 120 Hz for teachers and 127 for non-teachers and sound pressure level (82 dB vs. 80 dB, and shorter maximum phonation time (around 14 seconds vs. around 16 seconds. Female teachers younger than 50 years of age evidenced a significant tendency to speak with lower fundamental frequen­cy and shorter mpt compared with female teachers older than 50 years of age. Female teachers had significantly higher fundamental frequency (66 Hz, higher sound pressure level (2 dB and short phonation time (2 seconds than male teachers. Conclusion: Female teachers younger than 50 years of age had significantly lower F0 and shorter mpt compared with those older than 50 years of age. The multivariate analysis showed that gender was a much more important determinant of variations in F0, spl and mpt than age and teaching occupation. Objectively measured temperature also contributed to the changes on spl among school workers.

Correlates of Resource Empowerment among Parents of Children with Overweight or Obesity.

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, Junghyun; Davison, Kirsten K; Jurkowski, Janine M; Horan, Christine M; Orav, E John; Kamdar, Neil; Fiechtner, Lauren G; Taveras, Elsie M

2017-02-01

Few studies have examined correlates of resource empowerment among parents of children with overweight or obesity. We studied baseline data of 721 parent-child pairs participating in the Connect for Health randomized trial being conducted at six pediatric practices in Massachusetts. Parents completed the child weight management subscale (n = 5 items; 4-point response scale) of the Parent Resource Empowerment Scale; items were averaged to create a summary empowerment score. We used linear regression to examine the independent effects of child (age, sex, and race/ethnicity), parent/household characteristics (age, education, annual household income, BMI category, perceived stress, and their ratings of their healthcare quality), and neighborhood median household income, on parental resource empowerment. Mean (SD) child age was 7.7 years (2.9) and mean (SD) BMI z-score was 1.9 (0.5); 34% of children were white, 32% black, 22% Hispanic, 5% Asian, and 6% multiracial/other. The mean parental empowerment score was 2.95 (SD = 0.56; range = 1-4). In adjusted models, parents of older children [β -0.03 (95% CI: -0.04, -0.01)], Hispanic children [-0.14 (-0.26, -0.03)], those with annual household income less than $20,000 [-0.16 (-0.29, -0.02)], those with BMI ≥30.0 kg/m 2 [-0.17 (-0.28, -0.07)], and those who reported receiving lower quality of obesity-related care [-0.05 (-0.07, -0.03)] felt less empowered about resources to support their child's healthy body weight. Parental resource empowerment is influenced by parent and child characteristics as well as the quality of their obesity-related care. These findings could help inform equitable, family-centered approaches to improve parental resource empowerment.

Effect of a structured diabetes education programme in primary care on hospitalizations and emergency department visits among people with Type 2 diabetes mellitus: results from the Patient Empowerment Programme.

Science.gov (United States)

Wong, C K H; Wong, W C W; Wan, Y F; Chan, A K C; Chan, F W K; Lam, C L K

2016-10-01

To assess whether a structured diabetes education programme, the Patient Empowerment Programme, was associated with a lower rate of all-cause hospitalization and emergency department visits in a population-based cohort of patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus in primary care. A cohort of 24 250 patients was evaluated using a linked administrative database during 2009-2013. We selected 12 125 patients with Type 2 diabetes who had at least one Patient Empowerment Programme session attendance. Patients who did not participate in the Patient Empowerment Programme were matched one-to-one with patients who did, using the propensity score method. Hospitalization events and emergency department visits were the events of interest. Cox proportional hazard and negative binomial regressions were performed to estimate the hazard ratios for the initial event, and incidence rate ratios for the number of events. During a median 30.5 months of follow-up, participants in the Patient Empowerment Programme had a lower incidence of an initial hospitalization event (22.1 vs 25.2%; hazard ratio 0.879; P Patient Empowerment Programme. Participation in the Patient Empowerment Programme was associated with a significantly lower number of emergency department visits (incidence rate ratio 0.903; P patients annually in those who did not participate in the Patient Empowerment Programme vs. 36.2 per 100 patients annually in those who did. There were significantly fewer hospitalization episodes (incidence rate ratio 0.854; P patients annually in those who did not participate in the Patient Empowerment Programme vs. 16.9 hospitalizations per 100 patients annually in those who did. Among patients with Type 2 diabetes, the Patient Empowerment Programme was shown to be effective in delaying the initial hospitalization event and in reducing their frequency. © 2015 Diabetes UK.

Empowerment among Teachers in Leadership Positions Involving ICT Implementation in Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Avidov-Ungar, Orit

2018-01-01

The study identifies motivational characteristics of empowerment among teachers in leadership positions involving information and communications technology (ICT) implementation in schools. The participants were 24 teachers who were candidates for an Information and Communications Technology Leadership Award. Analysis of the in-depth interviews…

Remote Capture of Human Voice Acoustical Data by Telephone: A Methods Study

Science.gov (United States)

Cannizzaro, Michael S.; Reilly, Nicole; Mundt, James C.; Snyder, Peter J.

2005-01-01

In this pilot study we sought to determine the reliability and validity of collecting speech and voice acoustical data via telephone transmission for possible future use in large clinical trials. Simultaneous recordings of each participant's speech and voice were made at the point of participation, the local recording (LR), and over a telephone…

Power versus participation in health service teams: a delicate balance.

Science.gov (United States)

Marriott, A; Harris, I

2000-05-01

The purpose of this paper is to critically review the effectiveness of a participative management approach within health service teams. It questions the reality of staff empowerment as an essential product of this approach, and examines the influence of power issues on the degree of empowerment that the organization may allow. The benefits and challenges of staff participation are highlighted, with reference to the manager's role in the participation process. The article concludes by advocating the positive use of power in order to maintain the integrity and effectiveness of a participative management approach.

Relationship between empowerment and wealth: trends and predictors in Kenya between 2003 and 2008-2009.

Science.gov (United States)

Voronca, Delia; Walker, Rebekah J; Egede, Leonard E

2018-06-01

This study aimed to examine the association between women's empowerment and wealth over time in Kenya. Kenya Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) for 2003 and 2008-2009 were used. Eligible women and men were either married or living with a partner. Two scales were used for empowerment: female participation in decision-making, and attitudes toward domestic violence against female partners. Hierarchical linear models were used based on theoretical blocks of covariates. In a sample of 9847 women and 3207 men, results showed empowerment increased over time. After adjustment, female partners' reporting greater empowerment on either scale remained significantly associated with increased wealth, (urban: β = 0.04, p value wealth in rural regions (β = 0.04, p value wealth in urban regions (β = - 0.08, p value wealth. The association varies by gender of respondent and rural/urban residence.

The relation between conscientiousness, empowerment and performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Riëtte Sutherland

2007-02-01

Full Text Available This study examined the relationship between conscientiousness, empowerment and job performance among information technology professionals. An Employee Empowerment Questionnaire (EEQ, a Conscientiousness Scale and a Social Desirability Scale were administered to 101 information technology customer service engineers. Managers completed a Performance Evaluation Questionnaire (PEQ for each customer service engineer. The results indicated a significant relationship between conscientiousness and empowerment. A curvilinear relationship was found between empowerment and performance. The practical and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.

[Environmental factors and vocal habits regarding pre-school teachers and functionaries suffering voice disorders].

Science.gov (United States)

Barrreto-Munévar, Deisy P; Cháux-Ramos, Oriana M; Estrada-Rangel, Mónica A; Sánchez-Morales, Jenifer; Moreno-Angarita, Marisol; Camargo-Mendoza, Maryluz

2011-06-01

Determining the relationship between vocal habits and environmental/ occupational conditions with the presence of vocal disturbance (dysphonia) in teachers and functionaries working at community-based, initial childhood education centres (kindergartens). This was a descriptive study which adopted across-sectional approach using 198 participants which was developed in three phases. Phase 1: consisted of identifying participants having the highest risk of presenting vocal disturbance. Phase 2consisted of observation-analysis concerning the voice use and vocal habits of participants who had been identified in phase 1. Phase 3consisted of perceptual and computational assessment of participants' voices using Wilson's vocal profile and the multidimensional voice program. Individuals having pitch breaks, throat clearing, increased voice intensity, and gastro-oesophageal reflux were found to present below standard fundamental frequency (FF). Subjects having altered breathing and increased voice intensity were identified as having above standard shimmer and jitter acoustic values. A high rate of inability to work was found due to vocal disturbance. It is thus suggested that there is a correlation between vocal habits and vocal disorders presented by preschool teachers in kindergarten settings.

Service climate as a mediator of organizational empowerment in customer-service employees.

Science.gov (United States)

Mendoza-Sierra, Maria Isabel; Orgambídez-Ramos, Alejandro; Carrasco-González, Ana María; León-Jariego, José Carlos

2014-01-01

The aim of this study is to examine the mediating role of the service climate between organizational empowerment (i.e., dynamic structural framework, control of workplace decisions, fluidity in information sharing) and service quality (functional and relational). 428 contact employees from 46 hotels participated in the survey. Correlations demonstrated that dynamic structural framework, control decisions, and fluidity in information sharing are related to both functional and relational service quality. Regression analyses and Sobel tests revealed that service climate totally mediated the relationship between all three dimensions of organizational empowerment and relational service quality. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

High School Teacher Perceptions of Empowerment

OpenAIRE

Jacobs, Tricia Susan

2014-01-01

As the responsibilities of principals become more complex and as accountability becomes more evident in K-12 cultures, it becomes increasingly important that high school principals be trained to empower teachers. This paper examined the research concerning the conditions of the empowerment of teachers. More specifically, it measured high school teachers' perspectives concerning their levels of empowerment by their principals based on the four domains of empowerment: meaning, competence, sel...

Empowerment of Aesthetics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2016-01-01

Showcasing the Danish architecture biennial catalogue Empowerment of Aesthetics (Venice Biennale 2014), which, in 2015, was announced ‘bookwork of the year’ by Foreningen for Boghaandværk (the Danish association for book craft), the research based exhibition will focus on the catalogue's represen......Showcasing the Danish architecture biennial catalogue Empowerment of Aesthetics (Venice Biennale 2014), which, in 2015, was announced ‘bookwork of the year’ by Foreningen for Boghaandværk (the Danish association for book craft), the research based exhibition will focus on the catalogue...

The work environment and empowerment as predictors of patient safety culture in Turkey.

Science.gov (United States)

Dirik, Hasan Fehmi; Intepeler, Seyda Seren

2017-05-01

As scant research based information is available regarding the work environment, empowerment and patient safety culture, this study from a developing country (Turkey) in which health care institutions are in a state of transition, aimed to investigate further the relationships between these three variables. A cross-sectional descriptive design was employed. The sample comprised 274 nurse participants working in a university hospital located in Izmir (Turkey). In data evaluation, descriptive statistics and hierarchical regression analyses were applied. The work environment and structural empowerment were related to the patient safety culture and explained 55% of the variance in patient safety culture perceptions. 'Support for optimal patient care', 'nurse/physician relationships' and 'staff involvement in organisational affairs' were the significant predictors. An enhancement of the work environment and providing access to empowerment structures may help health care organisations improve the patient safety culture. In light of the findings, the following actions can be recommended to inform health care leaders: providing necessary resources for nursing practise, encouraging nurses' participation in decision-making, strengthening communication within the team and giving nurses the opportunities to cope with challenging work problems to learn and grow. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Clinical Features of Psychogenic Voice Disorder and the Efficiency of Voice Therapy and Psychological Evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Tezcaner, Zahide Çiler; Gökmen, Muhammed Fatih; Yıldırım, Sibel; Dursun, Gürsel

2017-11-06

The aim of this study was to define the clinical features of psychogenic voice disorder (PVD) and explore the treatment efficiency of voice therapy and psychological evaluation. Fifty-eight patients who received treatment following the PVD diagnosis and had no organic or other functional voice disorders were assessed retrospectively based on laryngoscopic examinations and subjective and objective assessments. Epidemiological characteristics, accompanying organic and psychological disorders, preferred methods of treatment, and previous treatment outcomes were examined for each patient. A comparison was made based on voice disorders and responses to treatment between patients who received psychotherapy and patients who did not. Participants in this study comprised 58 patients, 10 male and 48 female. Voice therapy was applied in all patients, 54 (93.1%) of whom had improvement in their voice. Although all patients were advised to undergo psychological assessment, only 60.3% (35/58) of them underwent psychological assessment. No statistically significant difference was found between patients who did receive psychological support concerning their treatment responses and patients who did not. Relapse occurred in 14.7% (5/34) of the patients who applied for psychological assessment and in 50% (10/20) of those who did not. There was a statistically significant difference in relapse rates, which was higher among patients who did not receive psychological support (P therapy is an efficient treatment method for PVD. However, in the long-term follow-up, relapse of the disease is observed to be higher among patients who failed to follow up on the recommendation for psychological assessment. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Interventions for preventing voice disorders in adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruotsalainen, J H; Sellman, J; Lehto, L; Jauhiainen, M; Verbeek, J H

2007-10-17

Poor voice quality due to a voice disorder can lead to a reduced quality of life. In occupations where voice use is substantial it can lead to periods of absence from work. To evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to prevent voice disorders in adults. We searched MEDLINE (PubMed, 1950 to 2006), EMBASE (1974 to 2006), CENTRAL (The Cochrane Library, Issue 2 2006), CINAHL (1983 to 2006), PsychINFO (1967 to 2006), Science Citation Index (1986 to 2006) and the Occupational Health databases OSH-ROM (to 2006). The date of the last search was 05/04/06. Randomised controlled clinical trials (RCTs) of interventions evaluating the effectiveness of treatments to prevent voice disorders in adults. For work-directed interventions interrupted time series and prospective cohort studies were also eligible. Two authors independently extracted data and assessed trial quality. Meta-analysis was performed where appropriate. We identified two randomised controlled trials including a total of 53 participants in intervention groups and 43 controls. One study was conducted with teachers and the other with student teachers. Both trials were poor quality. Interventions were grouped into 1) direct voice training, 2) indirect voice training and 3) direct and indirect voice training combined.1) Direct voice training: One study did not find a significant decrease of the Voice Handicap Index for direct voice training compared to no intervention.2) Indirect voice training: One study did not find a significant decrease of the Voice Handicap Index for indirect voice training when compared to no intervention.3) Direct and indirect voice training combined: One study did not find a decrease of the Voice Handicap Index for direct and indirect voice training combined when compared to no intervention. The same study did however find an improvement in maximum phonation time (Mean Difference -3.18 sec; 95 % CI -4.43 to -1.93) for direct and indirect voice training combined when compared to no

Social TV and the Participation Dilemma in NBC’s The Voice

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Es, K.F.

In this article, I explore the perks and perils of social TV as a strategy for networks to drive tune-in to episodes as they air and to strengthen audience engagement. I do so by examining reality singing competitions in the United States, and specifically the NBC show The Voice. In analyzing the

Recognizing famous voices: influence of stimulus duration and different types of retrieval cues.

Science.gov (United States)

Schweinberger, S R; Herholz, A; Sommer, W

1997-04-01

The current investigation measured the effects of increasing stimulus duration on listeners' ability to recognize famous voices. In addition, the investigation studied the influence of different types of cues on the naming of voices that could not be named before. Participants were presented with samples of famous and unfamiliar voices and were asked to decide whether or not the samples were spoken by a famous person. The duration of each sample increased in seven steps from 0.25 s up to a maximum of 2 s. Voice recognition improvements with stimulus duration were with a growth function. Gains were most rapid within the first second and less pronounced thereafter. When participants were unable to name a famous voice, they were cued with either a second voice sample, the occupation, or the initials of the celebrity. Initials were most effective in eliciting the name only when semantic information about the speaker had been accessed prior to cue presentation. Paralleling previous research on face naming, this may indicate that voice naming is contingent on previous activation of person-specific semantic information.

Effects of momentary self-monitoring on empowerment in a randomized controlled trial in patients with depression.

Science.gov (United States)

Simons, C J P; Hartmann, J A; Kramer, I; Menne-Lothmann, C; Höhn, P; van Bemmel, A L; Myin-Germeys, I; Delespaul, P; van Os, J; Wichers, M

2015-11-01

Interventions based on the experience sampling method (ESM) are ideally suited to provide insight into personal, contextualized affective patterns in the flow of daily life. Recently, we showed that an ESM-intervention focusing on positive affect was associated with a decrease in symptoms in patients with depression. The aim of the present study was to examine whether ESM-intervention increased patient empowerment. Depressed out-patients (n=102) receiving psychopharmacological treatment who had participated in a randomized controlled trial with three arms: (i) an experimental group receiving six weeks of ESM self-monitoring combined with weekly feedback sessions, (ii) a pseudo-experimental group participating in six weeks of ESM self-monitoring without feedback, and (iii) a control group (treatment as usual only). Patients were recruited in the Netherlands between January 2010 and February 2012. Self-report empowerment scores were obtained pre- and post-intervention. There was an effect of group×assessment period, indicating that the experimental (B=7.26, P=0.061, d=0.44, statistically imprecise) and pseudo-experimental group (B=11.19, P=0.003, d=0.76) increased more in reported empowerment compared to the control group. In the pseudo-experimental group, 29% of the participants showed a statistically reliable increase in empowerment score and 0% reliable decrease compared to 17% reliable increase and 21% reliable decrease in the control group. The experimental group showed 19% reliable increase and 4% reliable decrease. These findings tentatively suggest that self-monitoring to complement standard antidepressant treatment may increase patients' feelings of empowerment. Further research is necessary to investigate long-term empowering effects of self-monitoring in combination with person-tailored feedback. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Speaking in Character: Voice Communication in Virtual Worlds

Science.gov (United States)

Wadley, Greg; Gibbs, Martin R.

This chapter summarizes 5 years of research on the implications of introducing voice communication systems to virtual worlds. Voice introduces both benefits and problems for players of fast-paced team games, from better coordination of groups and greater social presence of fellow players on the positive side, to negative features such as channel congestion, transmission of noise, and an unwillingness by some to use voice with strangers online. Similarly, in non-game worlds like Second Life, issues related to identity and impression management play important roles, as voice may build greater trust that is especially important for business users, yet it erodes the anonymity and ability to conceal social attributes like gender that are important for other users. A very different mixture of problems and opportunities exists when users conduct several simultaneous conversations in multiple text and voice channels. Technical difficulties still exist with current systems, including the challenge of debugging and harmonizing all the participants' voice setups. Different groups use virtual worlds for very different purposes, so a single modality may not suit all.

Illusions of empowerment?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chomba, Susan Wangui; Nathan, Iben; Minang, Peter A.

2015-01-01

of CF has led to local empowerment. Our empirical data are drawn from review of national level policies and a field study of Ngare Ndare Community Forest Association (CFA) in Kenya. We investigated what types of powers were transferred to the local level, how representative the local institution...... forest protection and conservation roles, while maintaining legislative powers and control of economic benefits centrally; and, that representation within the CFA was highly skewed in favor of small and already powerful local elites. We discuss the findings in the light of the literature on empowerment...

A systems approach to empowerment in manufacturing enterprises

OpenAIRE

McEwan, Anne Marie

1999-01-01

Business challenges posed by turbulcnt local and global operating conditions are driving the adoption of new manufacturing strategies. Employee empowerment is vicwcd as a key enabler of these strategies within manufacturing enterprises. Analysis of the empowerment literature revealed that empowerment is poorly conccptualiscd. Little empirical evidcncc exists on the factors that influence the rcalisation of empowerment in manufacturing production. Paralld analysis in other domai...

User Empowerment in the Internet of Things

OpenAIRE

Munjin, Dejan

2013-01-01

A key concern in the Internet of Things (IoT) has been the integration of mundane objects in the Internet. Although increasingly interconnected, the IoT ecosystem is largely industry-centered. This leads to the creation of limited and incompatible services disempowering users by hampering their participation. In this thesis, we address this issue by empowering users to create, personalize, and distribute services in the IoT ecosystem. We define a general framework for user empowerment relying...

First birth and the trajectory of women's empowerment in Egypt.

Science.gov (United States)

Samari, Goleen

2017-11-08

Women's empowerment is often used to explain changes in reproductive behavior, but no consideration is given to how reproductive events can shape women's empowerment over time. Fertility may cause changes in women's empowerment, or they may be mutually influencing. Research on women's empowerment and fertility relies on cross-sectional data from South Asia, which limits the understanding of the direction of association between women's empowerment and fertility in other global contexts. This study uses two waves of a panel survey from a prominent Middle Eastern country, Egypt, to examine the trajectory of women's empowerment and the relationship between first and subsequent births and empowerment over time. Using longitudinal data from the 2006 and 2012 Egyptian Labor Market Panel Survey, a nationally representative sample of households in Egypt, for 4660 married women 15 to 49 years old, multilevel negative binomial, ordinary least squares, and logistic regression models estimate women's empowerment and consider whether a first and subsequent births are associated with empowerment later in life. Women's empowerment is operationalized through four measures of agency: individual household decision-making, joint household decision-making, mobility, and financial autonomy. A first birth and subsequent births are significantly positively associated with all measures of empowerment except financial autonomy in 2012. Women who have not had a birth make 30% fewer individual household decisions and 14% fewer joint household decisions in 2012 compared to women with a first birth. There is also a positive relationship with mobility, as women with a first birth have more freedom of movement compared to women with no births. Earlier empowerment is also an important predictor of empowerment later in life. Incorporating the influence of life events like first and subsequent births helps account for the possibility that empowerment is dynamic and that life course experiences shape

Empowerment in healthcare policy making: three domains of substantive controversy.

Science.gov (United States)

Chiapperino, Luca; Tengland, Per-Anders

2015-12-01

This paper distinguishes between the uses of empowerment across different contexts in healthcare policy and health promotion, providing a model for the ethical and political scrutiny of those uses. We argue that the controversies currently engendered by empowerment are better understood by means of a historical distinction between two concepts of empowerment, namely, what we call the radical empowerment approach and the new wave of empowerment. Building on this distinction, we present a research agenda for ethicists and policy makers, highlighting three domains of controversy raised by the new wave of empowerment, namely: (1) the relationship between empowerment and paternalistic interferences on the part of professionals; (2) the evaluative commitment of empowerment strategies to the achievement of health-related goals; and (3) the problems arising from the emphasis on responsibility for health in recent uses of empowerment. Finally, we encourage the explicit theorisation of these moral controversies as a necessary step for the development and implementation of ethically legitimate empowerment processes.

The plethora of publics and their participation in policy making: How can they properly participate?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carnes, S.A.

1995-07-01

This paper examines the theoretical bases of publics and stakeholder participation in decision making, with special attention to mixed issues, including federal government actions such as remedial action programs and hazardous facility sitings. Empowerment associated with participation is addressed, focusing on differences between power and authority.

[Factors associated with empowerment in people with a spinal cord injury due to traffic accidents].

Science.gov (United States)

Suriá Martínez, Raquel

2015-09-01

Analizar la capacidad de empoderamiento de un grupo de personas con lesión medular en función de la edad, el sexo, la condición funcional y la edaden la cual adquirieron la lesión. Ninety-four participants with a spinal cord injury (42 tetraplegics and 52 paraplegics) completed the Spanish version of the Rogers, Chamberlin, Ellison and Crean Scale (1997), designed to measure empowerment. The analyses indicated higher levels of empowerment among women. Persons with tetraplegia whose injury was more longstanding also showed greater empowerment. This study suggests that the capacity to become empowered can vary and evolve and should therefore be promoted in intervention programs. Copyright © 2014 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Women's empowerment and reproductive experiences over the lifecourse.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee-Rife, Susan M

2010-08-01

This paper examines the complex interplay between reproductive experiences and women's empowerment using rich life history data from a survey in India. Previous research has examined the influence of a rather limited range of reproductive events, focusing on how many children or sons a woman has borne, and has only superficially incorporated the insights of lifecourse theory. Furthermore, it has often conceptualized empowerment as a static characteristic rather than a time-varying one, and has often failed to examine the influence of empowerment resources or previous empowerment levels. I focus on the cumulative influence of less-studied reproductive events-including unwanted or mistimed pregnancy, stillbirths, miscarriages, and abortions-on several dimensions of women's empowerment, including mobility, financial decision-making, experiences of violence, and threats of abandonment or homelessness using data collected from 2435 women in Madhya Pradesh, India during a 2002 household-based probability sample survey. Logistic regression revealed that, notably, few reproductive events have an impact on women's current empowerment, but rather, the extent of empowerment immediately after marriage emerges as a strong determinant of their current empowerment. However, women who have had abortions have higher odds of experiencing domestic violence, and experiencing mistimed pregnancies lowers the odds of violence. Incorporating the potential influence of prior life events and conditions, accounting for the possibility that experiences may accumulate to shape women's current empowerment portrays women's lives more completely and helps to identify key points of intervention. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Power and Joy of Derby: Women’s Participation, Empowerment, and Transformation in a Flat-Track Roller Derby Team

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John Paul

2015-11-01

Full Text Available In what ways do sports make a difference in the lives of the people who play them? In this paper, we employ a sporting feminist perspective to answer this question and detail how women benefit from the sport of roller derby. Our analyses are structured around the themes of the body (exploring examples of bodily empowerment and reconceptualization; the team (highlighting feminist themes of loyalty and team as family; and the crowd (identifying the ways in which derby is “sold” to the crowd, as well as the ways in which athletes use derby to challenge conceptions of beauty, desirability, and femininity. In the end, this work comments on the multiple examples of feminist expression and positive sporting participation found in derby, including the use of sport to reject notions of weakness and fragility, and a greater willingness to critically assess gender inequities beyond the world of sport.

Pacifist empowerment for other possible worlds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eduardo Sandoval Forero

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This article of analytical content, aims to interpret some significant elements considered for the analysis of pacifist empowerment. Starting from the theoretical and practical background that on empowerment generally presented in Latin America and in Mexico from the ideas of Paulo Freire, as well as the understandings of the concept have been exposed from the philosophical, participatory, gender, social, and development approaches. According to the purpose and object of research, the article falls within the qualitative methodology of hermeneutic type that allows us to identify, describe, analyze, and reflect on the pacifist empowerment, based on textual sources and Peace research categories, considering particular bibliography on the subject. The qualitative research approach was supplemented with the technique of observation and dialogue on the subject taught by Francisco Muñoz in his last journey to Mexico. In the first part the results of the development and empowerment of the term approaches and their application is described in general terms. The conventional concept is discussed to understand the similarities and differences with the pacifist empowerment. In the second part the approach of pacifist empowerment having as theoretical support for Peace studies and particularly Muñoz and his coauthors addressed approaches is discussed. Some understandings about the issue are outlined and the article concludes that the concept of pacifist empowerment is in theoretical construction from the perspective of peace studies, and his statement is proposed as a know-how transformer of the subject and collective action to decide and to influence structural, cultural, gender or any violence condition as a strategy of nonviolent social change to build more peaceful worlds.

Investigation of the relationship between structural empowerment and organizational commitment of nurses in Zanjan hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Eskandari, Fereidoun; Siahkali, Soheila Rabie; Shoghli, Alireza; Pazargadi, Mehrnoosh; Tafreshi, Mansoreh Zaghari

2017-03-01

The demanding nature of nursing work environments signals longstanding and growing concerns about nurses' health and job satisfaction and the provision of quality care. Specifically in health care settings, nurse leaders play an essential role in creating supportive work environments to avert these negative trends and increase nurse job satisfaction. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between structural empowerment and organizational commitment of nurses. 491 nurses working in Zanjan hospitals participated in this descriptive-correlational study in 2010. Tools for data collection were Meyer and Allen's organizational commitment questionnaire and "Conditions for Work Effectiveness Questionnaire-II" (CWEQ-II). Data was analyzed by SPSS16. The statistical tests such as variance analysis, t-test, pearson correlation coefficient and linear regression were used for data analysis. According to the findings, the perception of nurses working in hospitals on "Structural Empowerment" was moderate (15.98±3.29). Nurses believed "opportunity" as the most important element in structural empowerment with the score of 3.18 ±0.79. Nurses working in non-academic hospitals and in non-teaching hospitals had higher organizational commitment than others. There was a significant relationship between structural empowerment and organizational commitment. Generally, structural empowerment (relatively strong) correlates with nurses' organizational commitment. We concluded that a high structural empowerment increases the organizational commitment of nurses.

The Nexus Between Health Literacy and Empowerment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Crondahl, Kristine; Eklund Karlsson, Leena

2016-01-01

The aim of this article was to explore what is known about the assumed connection between health literacy and empowerment and how this connection is portrayed in the scientific literature. If empowerment is an outcome of health literacy, what are the mechanisms behind this process? A literature...... search onducted in 2013 yielded 216 hits, of which five met the inclusion criteria, and thus were read in depth and analyzed through a narrative-review approach. The findings indicate that Health literacy might be regarded as a tool for empowerment but does not automatically lead to empowerment. Health...... literacy might be increased by health education. Crucial for empowerment is to achieve the critical level of health literacy including an ability to question and reflect on the prevailing power relations and societal conditions; increased senses of power, selfesteem, and self-efficacy; and an ability...

Ten Best Readings on Community Participation and Health | Rifkin ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Health Sciences ... This article reviews, in the opinion of the , the 10 most influential reading on community participation ... Key Words: community participation, health and development, participation as an intervention, empowerment

The effect of individual enabling and support on empowerment and depression severity in persons with affective disorders: outcome of a randomized control trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Porter, Susann; Bejerholm, Ulrika

2018-01-30

To evaluate the effect of Individual Enabling and Support (IES) on empowerment and depression severity as compared to Traditional Vocational Rehabilitation (TVR) in people with affective disorders at 12 months follow-up. Additionally, longitudinal changes within the intervention groups and the correlation over time between empowerment and depression severity were evaluated. A single-blind randomized controlled trial of two intervention groups, IES (n = 33) and TVR (n = 28), was performed with measurement points at baseline, 6, and 12 months. Individuals with affective disorders, including depression and bipolar disorder diagnoses were included. The Empowerment Scale and Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Self-Rating Scale were administered, and Intention-To-Treat analysis was applied. The study was registered with the trial number ISRCTN93470551. There was a statistically significant difference between the intervention groups on empowerment and depression severity at 12 months. Within-group analysis showed that IES-participants increased their perceived empowerment and decreased their depression severity between measurement points, this was not seen among TVR-participants. A moderate, inverse relationship was detected between empowerment and depression. IES is more effective in increasing empowerment and decreasing depression severity after a 12-month intervention than is TVR. This study was limited by a small sample size and larger trials in different contexts are needed.

Enabling School Structure, Mindfulness, and Teacher Empowerment: Test of a Theory

Science.gov (United States)

Watts, Donald M.

2009-01-01

This study looked at the relationship of an enabling school structure and mindfulness toward teacher empowerment. An enabling school structure is the perception in which leadership fosters collaboration, innovation, and trust among participants. Its rules and procedures are flexible and promote problem-solving (Hoy & Sweetland, 2000, 2001).…

Women's empowerment and male involvement in antenatal care: analyses of Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) in selected African countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Jennings, Larissa; Na, Muzi; Cherewick, Megan; Hindin, Michelle; Mullany, Britta; Ahmed, Saifuddin

2014-08-30

Increasing women's status and male involvement are important strategies in reducing preventable maternal morbidity and mortality. While efforts to both empower women and engage men in maternal health care-seeking can work synergistically, in practice they may result in opposing processes and outcomes. This study examines whether a woman's empowerment status, in sum and across economic, socio-familial, and legal dimensions, is associated with male partner accompaniment to antenatal care (ANC). Women's empowerment was measured based on the sum of nine empowerment items in the 2010-2011 Demographic and Health Surveys in eight sub-Saharan African countries: Burkina Faso (n = 2,490), Burundi (n = 1,042), Malawi (n = 1,353), Mozambique (n = 414), Rwanda (n = 1,211), Senegal (n = 505), Uganda (n = 428) and Zimbabwe (n = 459). In cross-sectional analyses, bivariate and multivariable logistic regressions models were used to examine the odds of male partner accompaniment to ANC between women with above-average versus below-average composite and dimensional empowerment scores. In the majority of countries, male accompaniment to ANC was not uncommon. However, findings were mixed. Positive associations in women's composite empowerment and male involvement were observed in Burkina Faso (OR = 1.27, 95% CI: 1.08, 1.50) and Uganda (OR = 1.53, 95% CI: 1.00-2.35), and in the economic empowerment dimension in Burkina Faso (OR = 1.24, 95% CI: 1.05-1.47). In Malawi, significant negative associations were observed in the odds of male accompaniment to ANC and women's composite (OR = 0.77, 95% CI: 0.62-0.97) and economic empowerment scores (OR = 0.75, 95% CI: 0.59-0.94). No significant differences were observed in Burundi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal, or Zimbabwe. Women's empowerment can be positively or negatively associated with male antenatal accompaniment. Male involvement efforts may benefit from empowerment initiatives that promote women's participation in social and economic spheres

The Huddling Programme: effects on empowerment, organisational commitment and ego-resilience in clinical nurses - a randomised trial.

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Im, Sook Bin; Cho, Mi-Kyoung; Kim, Se Young; Heo, Myoung Lyun

2016-05-01

To identify effects of the huddling programme as a strategy for retention of clinical nurses. In Korea, new nurses leave hospitals more than experienced nurses for many reasons. Hospitals with a high nurse turnover require larger budgets and longer periods of time to train large numbers of newly recruited nurses until they can perform as well as those who have left. Furthermore, the remaining nurses have an additional workload associated with both the shortage of manpower and the need to train the incoming nurses. This means that reducing nurse turnover intention requires preventive measures that promote empowerment and organisational commitment among nurses in Korea. Randomised controlled trial. This research used a pretest-post-test experimental-group-control-group design to investigate the effect of the huddling programme. The participants were 49 clinical nurses working at two general hospitals with more than 500 beds that are located in D city and S city of Korea. The experimental group participated in the huddling programme that comprised a full-day retreat and after-work social networking services during January and February 2013. Self-reported questionnaires were used to assess empowerment, organisational commitment and ego-resilience. The data were analysed by descriptive analysis using the t-test. The mean scores for normative commitment and impact of empowerment were higher in the experimental group, but ego-resilience did not differ significantly between the two groups. The huddling program positively increased nurses' perception of organisational commitment and empowerment who participated in huddling programme. The huddling programme could be a useful strategy for improving the retention of clinical nurses. This study is both significant and relevant to nursing science and practice given that it demonstrated the effectiveness of an empowerment programme in increasing organisational commitment and decreasing actual turnover rates of clinical nurses. �

Workplace empowerment and nurses' job satisfaction: a systematic literature review.

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Cicolini, Giancarlo; Comparcini, Dania; Simonetti, Valentina

2014-10-01

This systematic review aimed to synthesize and analyse the studies that examined the relationship between nurse empowerment and job satisfaction in the nursing work environment. Job dissatisfaction in the nursing work environment is the primary cause of nursing turnover. Job satisfaction has been linked to a high level of empowerment in nurses. We reviewed 596 articles, written in English, that examined the relationship between structural empowerment, psychological empowerment and nurses' job satisfaction. Twelve articles were included in the final analysis. A significant positive relation was found between empowerment and nurses' job satisfaction. Structural empowerment and psychological empowerment affect job satisfaction differently. A satisfying work environment for nurses is related to structural and psychological empowerment in the workplace. Structural empowerment is an antecedent of psychological empowerment and this relationship culminates in positive retention outcomes such as job satisfaction. This review could be useful for guiding leaders' strategies to develop and maintain an empowering work environment that enhances job satisfaction. This could lead to nurse retention and positive organisational and patient outcomes. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Cross-national diagnostic analysis of patient empowerment in England and Greece

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Graham Lister

2012-01-01

organisational, the Greek culture, professional systems and attitudes were also challenges in Greece. National relevant policies and professional attitudes in England, and integrated working in Greece were perceived facilitators. Changes inprofessional attitudes and cultures, information awareness / provision, and national drivers were common crossnationalfacilitators. Greek participants called for better function of patient empowerment systems within hospitals; while hearing the patients ‘voice’ and non-tokenism were highlighted in England.Conclusions: Notwithstanding its limitations, this analysis identified factors and complexities likely to influencepatient empowerment change. The influence of the voluntary sector and well-developed policies in England was evident, while in Greece there was lack of knowledge and awareness. Nonetheless, it seems that the need for better non-tokenistic systems is cross-national.

A Study on Teachers’ Digital Empowerment

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Buket Akkoyunlu

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Technological development has flourished lately and its role in education might play a key role in young people’s social, educational, and professional life. Educators must teach young people relevant information and skills not only to give them a chance to explore and understand the world around them but also to familiarize them with digital technologies. But before we can educate young people we must empower teachers using digital technology. Because teachers who use digital technologies appropriately are not only good models but also help students develop positive attitudes towards such technologies. Considering that, the purpose of this study is to determine the levels of teachers’ digital enpowerment. Descriptive methods were used in this study to determine current level of teachers’ digital empowerment. It was found that teachers have average levels of digital enpowerment. Looking closer at sub-categories, it was found that their awareness and motivation levels were higher, however, technical access and empowerment levels were average. Comparing males and females showed that both teachers had high scores on awareness and technical access but motivation, empowerment, and over all males and females were roughly average. When sub­categories of digital empowerment was analyzed according to teachers’ specialties, it showed that Computer and Science teachers’ had high scores on awareness, motivation, technical access empowerment and overall average. However, Social Science, Turkish and Language teachers had high scores on awareness and motivation, but technical access, empowerment and overall average were average.

Empowerment in the perspective of ecumenical diakonia

OpenAIRE

Nordstokke, Kjell

2012-01-01

Empowerment seems to be developing as a key concept in the discussion of identity and mission of diaconia. This is also true in the ecumenical movement. Recent discussions demonstrate that empowerment is also used when people in the South comment on their own context. Empowerment also has a strong biblical foundation. Still, one needs to pursue several important questions. One of them being: Who empowers whom?

'Troubling' moments in health promotion: unpacking the ethics of empowerment.

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Spencer, Grace

2015-12-01

Concepts of empowerment feature strongly in global health discourses. Empowerment is frequently advocated as a positive approach to addressing individual and community-level health needs. Despite its popularity, relatively little has been said about the unintended consequences of empowerment, which may give rise to some troubling ethical issues or, indeed, result in outcomes that may not be considered health promoting. Drawing on current uses of empowerment within health promotion, along with insights from an ethnographic study on young people's health, this paper raises some critical questions about the ethics of empowerment. By doing so, the paper troubles the idea that empowerment is a 'good thing' without some careful attention to the varying ways in which the ethics of empowerment may unfold in practice. Findings revealed young people's different perspectives on health and priorities for health promotion. The present analysis highlights how these alternative framings prompt a number of ethical tensions for understanding and operationalising empowerment. In conclusion, the findings underscore the importance of promoting ethical reflexivity in health promotion and, crucially, attending to the unintended and potentially ethically problematic consequences of empowerment. So what? This paper raises some critical questions about the ethics of empowerment and calls for a more thorough engagement with the unintended consequences of empowerment within health promotion.

Vocal problems among teachers: evaluation of a preventive voice program.

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Bovo, Roberto; Galceran, Marta; Petruccelli, Joseph; Hatzopoulos, Stavros

2007-11-01

Vocal education programs for teachers may prevent the emergence of vocal disorders; however, only a few studies have tried to evaluate the effectiveness of these preventive programs, particularly in the long term. Two hundred and sixty-four subjects, mostly kindergarten and primary school female teachers, participated in a course on voice care, including a theoretical seminar (120 minutes) and a short voice group therapy (180 minutes, small groups of 20 subjects). For 3 months, they had to either attend the vocal ergonomics norms and, as psychological reinforcement, they had to make out a daily report of vocal abuse, or to follow the given exercises for a more efficient vocal technique, reporting on whether the time scheduled was respected or not. The effectiveness of the course was assessed in a group of 21 female teachers through a randomized controlled study. Evaluation comprehended stroboscopy, perceptual and electro-acoustical voice analysis, Voice Handicap Index, and a course benefit questionnaire. A group of 20 teachers matched for age, working years, hoarseness grade, and vocal demand served as a control group. At 3 months evaluation, participants demonstrated amelioration in the global dysphonia rates (P=0.0003), jitter (P=0.0001), shimmer (P=0.0001), MPT (P=0.0001), and VHI (P=0.0001). Twelve months after the course, the positive effects remained, although they were slightly reduced. In conclusion, a course inclusive of two lectures, a short group voice therapy, home-controlled voice exercises, and hygiene, represents a feasible and cost-effective primary prevention of voice disorders in a homogeneous and well-motivated population of teachers.

A Framework of Organizational Empowerment for Strategic Military Leaders

Science.gov (United States)

2012-03-22

Empowerment, Performance , and Satisfaction ,” The Academy of Management Journal 47, no. 3 (June 2004): 332. 63 Ibid, 333. 64 Ibid, 334. 65 Ibid, 335. 66...5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT...military culture. The person with authoritative power may make unilateral decisions or involve participation by stakeholders. Victor Vroom from Yale

Designing for Interactional Empowerment

OpenAIRE

Ståhl, Anna

2014-01-01

This thesis further defines how to reach Interactional Empowerment through design for users. Interactional Empowerment is an interaction design program within the general area of affective interaction, focusing on the users’ abil­ity to reflect, express themselves and engage in profound meaning-making. This has been explored through design of three systems eMoto, Affective Di­ary and Affective Health, which all mirror users’ emotions or bodily reactions in interaction in some way. From these ...

Promoting the health of Aboriginal Australians through empowerment: eliciting the components of the family well-being empowerment and leadership programme.

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Laliberté, Arlene; Haswell, Melissa; Tsey, Komla

2012-12-01

Most policies addressing Aboriginal health in Australia promote initiatives that are based on empowerment principles. Articulated programme components are necessary to support personal and group empowerment and to assist individuals in gaining the sense of control and purposefulness needed to exert their political and personal power in the face of the severe stress and powerlessness faced by the Australian Aboriginal people. This paper aims to provide a detailed description of the mechanisms underpinning a 'bottom-up' empowerment initiative, the Family well-being empowerment and leadership programme (FWB), and to analyze how the programme supports empowerment. The five stages of FWB were described and the validity of this model was assessed through the combination of participatory observation, documentation analysis, literature review, semi-structured interviews and iterative feedback with different analytical perspectives. Our study results articulated four distinct programme components: the setting plus inter-relational, educational and experiential actions. FWB is an example of the promotion of both outcome and process pathways towards empowerment. Potential applications of the programme are discussed.

Women’s Empowerment through Self-help Groups and its Impact on Health Issues: Empirical Evidence

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Assist. Prof. Sudipta De

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Based on an empirical study in West Bengal, this paper attempts toexamine whether women’s involvement in the microcredit programmethrough SHGs makes any positive change on women’s empowerment.From the assessment of various criteria of empowerment(power,autonomy and self-reliance, entitlement, participation and awarenessand capacity-building, the study suggests that if women participatingin the microcredit programme through SHGs sustain for some longerperiod (eight years or more, such programme might contribute tohigher level of women’s empowerment than women’s empowermentunder all types of control group. This paper also finds that women’searnings from saving and credit have positive and significant effect onnutritional status of the children of women members of SHGs and onthe protein-intake for their household compared with that of amongcontrol groups.

Disentangling the relationships between staff nurses' workplace empowerment and job satisfaction.

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Dahinten, V S; Lee, S E; MacPhee, M

2016-11-01

The primary aim of this study was to examine the relationships between structural empowerment, psychological empowerment and job satisfaction among staff nurses, after controlling for their leaders' use of empowering behaviours. Nurses' job satisfaction is a critical factor in health-care organisations because of its association with nurse turnover and quality of patient care. Nurses continue to report high levels of job dissatisfaction. Cross-sectional data for 1007 Canadian staff nurses were analysed using hierarchical multiple regression. Structural empowerment was the strongest independent predictor of job satisfaction, followed by leader empowering behaviours and psychological empowerment. After accounting for the effects of structural empowerment and leader empowering behaviours, the four dimensions of psychological empowerment showed only small independent effects on job satisfaction. Psychological empowerment did not mediate the effects of structural empowerment on job satisfaction. Nurses' job satisfaction is most influenced by their access to organisational empowerment structures. Leader empowering behaviours, structural empowerment, and psychological empowerment, operating together, enhance nurses' job satisfaction. Nurse leaders should use a variety of empowerment strategies that are important to nurses' job satisfaction and potentially to the quality of patient care and nurse turnover. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Psychological empowerment in French nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fillol, Charlotte

2011-01-01

Since the eighties, nuclear safety has been discussed in organizational studies and constitutes nowadays a specific stream with several standpoints. Regarding the reliability of nuclear plants, the nuclear safety literature has emphasized on the crucial role of individuals and human factors. Especially, some researchers have noticed rule breaking behavior and the impact of individual self-confidence on the behavior; but without deepening their analyses. As high self-esteem and confidence, i.e. psychological empowerment, naturally lead to innovation and rule breaking, the behavior can be analyzed, in such a regulated industry, as opposite to safety. Thus, this article aims at explaining the roots and discernable features of the observed psychological empowerment. Methods include an in-depth qualitative study in 4 nuclear power plants owned by Electricite de France (EDF), the French national nuclear power operator. Focused on the leading team of the plant, the set of data is composed of 35 interviews, 6 weeks of non-participant observation and internal documents. The content analysis has revealed two main pillars of psychological empowerment. On the first hand, the strong professional identity developed at the opening of the plants is based on initiative and risk-taking. In some ways, this professional identify fostered by commitment to a demanding job and the team, influences behavior more than do professional rules. On the second hand, the management discourse is perceived as ambiguous towards the strict application of the rules and tacitly legitimizes rule breaking behavior. This article details and exemplifies these phenomena and discusses the implications. (author)

Combat Leadership Styles: Empowerment versus Authoritarianism

Science.gov (United States)

1990-12-01

Combat Leadership Styles : Empowerment versus Authoritarianism FARIS R. KIRKLAND Recent research in Israel and the United States suggests that...Combat Leadership Styles : Empowerment versus Authoritarianism 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) 5d

Empowerment, intimate partner violence and skilled birth attendance among women in rural Uganda.

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Kwagala, Betty; Nankinga, Olivia; Wandera, Stephen Ojiambo; Ndugga, Patricia; Kabagenyi, Allen

2016-05-04

There is limited research on how the empowerment of women and intimate partner violence (IPV) are associated with skilled birth attendance (SBA) among rural women in Uganda. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to investigate the association between women's empowerment, their experience of IPV and SBA in rural Uganda. Using data from the Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS), we selected 857 rural women who were in union, had given birth in the last 5 years preceding the survey and were selected for the domestic violence (DV) module. Frequency distributions were used to describe the background characteristics of the women and their partners. Pearson's chi-squared (χ (2)) tests were used to investigate the associations between SBA and women's empowerment; and partners' and women's socio-demographic factors including sexual violence. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to examine the association between SBA and explanatory variables. More than half (55 %) of the women delivered under the supervision of skilled birth attendant. Women's empowerment with respect to participation in household decision-making, property (land and house) (co)ownership, IPV, and sexual empowerment did not positively predict SBA among rural women in Uganda. Key predictors of SBA were household wealth status, partners' education, ANC attendance and parity. For enhancement of SBA in rural areas, there is a need to encourage a more comprehensive ANC attendance irrespective of number of children a woman has; and design interventions to enhance household wealth and promote men's education.

Solicitude: balancing compassion and empowerment in a relational ethics of hope-an empirical-ethical study in palliative care.

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Olsman, Erik; Willems, Dick; Leget, Carlo

2016-03-01

The ethics of hope has often been understood as a conflict between duties: do not lie versus do not destroy hope. However, such a way of framing the ethics of hope may easily place healthcare professionals at the side of realism and patients at the side of (false) hope. That leaves unexamined relational dimensions of hope. The objective of this study was to describe a relational ethics of hope based on the perspectives of palliative care patients, their family members and their healthcare professionals. A qualitative longitudinal method based on narrative theories was used. Semi-structured interviews on hope were conducted with twenty-nine palliative care patients, nineteen friends or family members, and fifty-two healthcare professionals, which were recorded and transcribed. Data on hope were thematically analyzed. The researchers wrote memos and did member checking with participants. When participants spoke about hope, they referred to power and empowerment, like the powerful bonding of hope between patients and physicians. They also associated hope with the loss of hope and suffering. Several participating healthcare professionals tried to balance both sides, which involved acknowledgment of hope and suffering. Hope and power were reflected in the ethical concept of empowerment, whereas suffering and the loss of hope were reflected in the ethical concept of compassion. Empowerment and compassion can be balanced in solicitude. In conclusion, a relational ethics of hope requires solicitude, in which healthcare professionals are able to weigh empowerment and compassion within particular relationships.

Development of a voice disorder work productivity inventory utilizing cognitive interviewing technique.

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Giliberto, John Paul; Zhu, Qiubei; Meyer, Tanya K

2016-12-01

Voice disorders have been shown to impair workplace productivity primarily by reduced efficiency while at work (presenteeism) versus increased days missed (absenteeism). Work productivity measures such as the Work Productivity and Activity Impairment (WPAI) Questionnaire or the World Health Organization Health - Work Performance Questionnaire (HPQ) can be customized to a specific disease but do not fully capture impaired work productivity associated with voice disorders. The purpose of this study was to develop a novel questionnaire to evaluate work productivity in patients with voice disorders. Descriptive. At a tertiary medical center, patients with gainful employment and with chronic voice disorders were given the WPAI, HPQ, and 20 voice-related statements (VRS-20). Cognitive interviews were conducted and recorded with all patients. Ten patients (7 females, 3 males) completed the questionnaires and subsequent cognitive interviews. One patient had spasmodic dysphonia, 6 had benign vocal fold lesions, and 3 had vocal fold motion disorders. The median VHI-10 was 18 (9-40). Themes that emerged during interviews include: avoiding oral communication/telephone, use of voice associated with strain/fatigue, frustration and stress at work, and workplace integrity. Conclusions : In cognitive interviews, participants felt the VRS-20 captured the impact of their voice disorder at work better than the WPAI and HPQ. Participants also felt some statements were more important than others. 5.

Individual and collective empowerment and associated factors among Brazilian adults: a cross-sectional study.

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Soares, Marcia Fatima; Ferreira, Rachel Conceição; Pazzini, Camila Alessandra; Travassos, Denise Vieira; Paiva, Saul Martins; e Ferreira, Efigênia Ferreira

2015-08-12

The empowerment embedded in the health area is defined as a process that can facilitate control over the determinants of health of individuals and population as a way to improve health. The aim of this study was to verify the association between individual and collective empowerment with sociodemographic conditions, lifestyle, health conditions and quality of life. A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted with 1150 individuals (aged 35 to 44 years). The empowerment was determined by questions from the Integrated Questionnaire for the Measurement of Social Capital (IQ-MSC). The quality of life was measured using the WHOQOL (World Health Organization Quality of Life-Bref). Lifestyle and health conditions were obtained by adapted questions from the Fantastic Lifestyle Questionnaire The DMFT Index was incorporated in the health conditions questions. Logistic regression or multinomial regression was performed. The practice of physical activity was related to individual (OR: 2.70) and collective (OR: 1.57) empowerment. Regarding individual empowerment, people with higher education level (5-11 years - OR: 3.46 and ≥12 years - OR: 4.41), who felt more able to deal with stress (OR:3.76), who presented a high score on quality of life (psychological domain) (OR:1.23) and that smoked (OR:1.49) were more likely to feel able to make decisions and participate in community activities. The increase in the DMFT Index represented less chance of individuals to feel more able to make decisions (OR: 0.96). Regarding the collective empowerment, being religious (catholic) (OR: 1.82), do not drink or drink just a little (OR: 1.66 and 2.28, respectively), and increased score of overall quality of life (OR: 1.08) were more likely to report that people cooperate to solve a problem in their community. The two approaches to empowerment, the individual and collective are connected, and the physical activity showed to be a good strategy for the empowerment construction.

Health promotion and empowerment in Henganofi District, Papua New Guinea.

Science.gov (United States)

Barcham, Richard; Silas, Esther; Irie, Jesse

2016-01-01

Evidence shows that the government of Papua New Guinea is failing to provide basic services in health to the majority of its people. Local non-government organisations (NGOs), partnered with international NGOs, are attempting to fill this gap. With limited resources, these small Indigenous organisations must focus much of their effort on training that supports self-reliance as the main strategy for communities to improve their quality of life. This project explored the training content and methodology of Touching The Untouchables (TTU), a small Indigenous NGO based in Goroka, Eastern Highlands Province, that has trained a network of village volunteers in health promotion and safe motherhood.Village life imposes multiple demands, from self-sufficiency in food to maintaining law and order. There are established attitudes about power and dependence, referred to as 'cargo thinking'. Cargo thinking stands as a barrier to the necessity of self-reliance, and requires training strategies that seek to empower participants to create change from their own initiative. Empowerment is understood as oriented towards individual people taking collective action to improve their circumstances by rectifying disparities in social power and control. To achieve self-reliance, empowerment is necessarily operational on the levels of person, community and society.In addition to being operational on all three levels of empowerment, the training content and methodology adopted and developed by TTU demonstrate that empowering practice in training employs approaches to knowledge that are evidence-based, reflexive, contextual and skill-based. Creating knowledge that is reflexive and exploring knowledge about the broader context uses special kinds of communicative tools that facilitate discussion on history, society and political economy. Furthermore, training methodologies that are oriented to empowerment create settings that require the use of all three types of communication required for

How Effectively Do People Remember Voice Disordered Speech? An Investigation of the Serial-Position Curve

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Scott R. Schroeder

2018-01-01

Full Text Available We examined how well typical adult listeners remember the speech of a person with a voice disorder (relative to that of a person without a voice disorder. Participants (n = 40 listened to two lists of words (one list uttered in a disordered voice and the other list uttered in a normal voice. After each list, participants completed a free recall test, in which they tried to remember as many words as they could. While the total number of words recalled did not differ between the disordered voice condition and the normal voice condition, an investigation of the serial-position curve revealed a difference. In the normal voice condition, a parabolic (i.e., u-shaped serial-position curve was observed, with a significant primacy effect (i.e., the beginning of the list was remembered better than the middle and a significant recency effect (i.e., the end of the list was remembered better than the middle. In contrast, in the disordered voice condition, while there was a significant recency effect, no primacy effect was present. Thus, the increased ability to remember the first words uttered by a speaker (relative to subsequent words may disappear when the speaker has a voice disorder. Explanations and implications of this finding are discussed.

Challenging stereotyping and bias: a voice simulation study.

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Dearing, Karen S; Steadman, Sheryl

2008-02-01

Stigma is a barrier to mental health care access for patients with schizophrenia and can interfere with developing therapeutic relationships. This study demonstrates success of a voice simulation experience during orientation in changing the biases of nursing students and the effect on the development of the nurse-patient relationship. Ninety-four individuals participated; 52 received a voice simulation experience during orientation, and 42 received orientation with no voice simulation experience. The Medical Condition Regard Scale was administered before and after orientation. Posttest paired t test results show significant differences in attitudes toward patients with voice hearing experiences between the two groups. The themes of personal growth from the focus groups postorientation include Affective Experience, Physical Experience, and Empathy. Findings demonstrate that the orientation process should include methods to challenge stereotyping and bias to decrease stigma, improve service access, and enhance the ability to develop therapeutic relationships.

Familierådslagning i et empowerment perspektiv

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Enevoldsen, Jørn Henrik; Brønholt, Lis Lynge

2007-01-01

Diskussion og undersøgelse af empowerment begrebet i forhold til beslutningsmodellen familierådslagning.......Diskussion og undersøgelse af empowerment begrebet i forhold til beslutningsmodellen familierådslagning....

School nurses' perceptions of empowerment and autonomy.

Science.gov (United States)

DeSisto, Marie C; DeSisto, Thomas Patrick

2004-08-01

The purpose of this study was to explore Kanter's Theory of Structural Power in Organizations, using school nurses and to answer the research question of whether there is a relationship between empowerment and autonomy in school nurses. This study found a positive relationship between the nurses' perceptions of empowerment and autonomy. The school nurses surveyed perceived themselves to have a high degree of autonomy and a moderate degree of empowerment, and they reported that their access to informal power structures was higher than their access to formal power structures in their school systems. School nurses can benefit by understanding factors that can increase their empowerment in the workplace. They need to understand the organizational structure of their workplace to increase their effectiveness and job satisfaction.

Psychological empowerment and development | Oladipo | Edo ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Using the archival method of investigation, this paper explores the subject of psychological empowerment (particularly in relation to youths) and national development. The specific objective of the paper is to explore and establish the importance of psychological empowerment of the masses and particularly the youths, ...

Voice disorders in teachers: occupational risk factors and psycho-emotional factors.

Science.gov (United States)

van Houtte, Evelyne; Claeys, Sofie; Wuyts, Floris; van Lierde, Kristiane

2012-10-01

Teaching is a high-risk occupation for developing voice disorders. The purpose of this study was to investigate previously described vocal risk factors as well as to identify new risk factors related to both the personal life of the teacher (fluid intake, voice-demanding activities, family history of voice disorders, and children at home) and to environmental factors (temperature changes, chalk use, presence of curtains, carpet, or air-conditioning, acoustics in the classroom, and noise in and outside the classroom). The study group comprised 994 teachers (response rate 46.6%). All participants completed a questionnaire. Chi-square tests and logistic regression analyses were performed. A total of 51.2% (509/994) of the teachers presented with voice disorders. Women reported more voice disorders compared to men (56.4% versus 40.4%, P history of voice disorders (P = 0.005), temperature changes in the classroom (P = 0.017), the number of pupils per classroom (P = 0.001), and noise level inside the classroom (P = 0.001). Teachers with voice disorders presented a higher level of psychological distress (P < 0.001) compared to teachers without voice problems. Voice disorders are frequent among teachers, especially in female teachers. The results of this study emphasize that multiple factors are involved in the development of voice disorders.

Women's empowerment and fertility: a review of the literature.

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Upadhyay, Ushma D; Gipson, Jessica D; Withers, Mellissa; Lewis, Shayna; Ciaraldi, Erica J; Fraser, Ashley; Huchko, Megan J; Prata, Ndola

2014-08-01

Women's empowerment has become a focal point for development efforts worldwide and there is a need for an updated, critical assessment of the existing evidence on women's empowerment and fertility. We conducted a literature review on studies examining the relationships between women's empowerment and several fertility-related topics. Among the 60 studies identified for this review, the majority were conducted in South Asia (n = 35) and used household decision-making as a measure of empowerment (n = 37). Overall, the vast majority of studies found some positive associations between women's empowerment and lower fertility, longer birth intervals, and lower rates of unintended pregnancy, but there was some variation in results. In many studies, results differed based on the measure of empowerment used, sociopolitical or gender environment, or sub-population studied. This article is one of the first evaluations of the literature assessing the relationships between women's empowerment and fertility. We identify several key issues that merit further investigation. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Clinical leadership, structural empowerment and psychological empowerment of registered nurses working in an emergency department.

Science.gov (United States)

Connolly, Megan; Jacobs, Stephen; Scott, Karyn

2018-04-19

To examine clinical leadership of registered nurses in an emergency department, based on evidence that it is important for nurses to feel psychologically and structurally empowered in order to act as clinical leaders. Every registered nurse has the ability to act as a clinical leader. Clinical leadership is the registered nurse's behaviours that provide direction and support to patients and the team in the delivery of patient care. This study explores the connection between the need for structural and psychological empowerment and clinical leadership behaviours. A mixed method, non-experimental survey design was used to examine the psychological empowerment, structural empowerment and clinical leadership of registered nurses working in an emergency department. Emergency department nurses believe they show clinical leadership behaviours most of the time, even though their sense of being psychologically empowered is only moderate. While registered nurses believe they perform clinical leadership behaviours, it is also clear that improvements in structural and psychological empowerment would improve their ability to act as clinical leaders. The results show that for nurses to be able to provide clinical leadership to their patients and colleagues, management must create empowering environments. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Gendered urban prosperity and women’s empowerment in 21st century cities

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Sylvia Chant

2013-01-01

Full Text Available While urban prosperity has been identified as a major issue in recent debates about cities, this paper argues that this must be conceptualised not only in terms of enhancing productivity and generating wealth, but also in addressing equity, equality and participation of which the gendered dimensions of cities are central. It outlines why it is important to take gender in account when trying to foster urban prosperity and why this must also entail consideration of women‟s empowerment in cities in social and political as well as economic terms. In reflecting these arguments, the paper provides a conceptual framework for understanding the intersections between the gendered nature of urban prosperity and women‟s empowerment. This is built on an empirical discussion of the core elements underpinning urban prosperity in relation to conceptualisations of empowerment as well as a discussion of importance of generating gender-equity through exercising formal and informal rights and an outline of the ways on which policies might address gender inequalities in cities. Ultimately, the paper argues that while pro-prosperity measures are important in generating urban prosperity, these must address underlying unequal gendered power relations and issues of social justice that are necessary in order to bring about true empowerment for women in cities today and in the future.

Social Entrepreneurship Andragogy-Based for Community Empowerment

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Hidayat Dayat

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The essence of social entrepreneurship is the ability to initiate, lead and implement problem-solving strategies, through cooperation with others in all types of social networks. The purpose of this study analyzes: 1 entrepreneurship training, 2 adult education assumptions, and 3 community empowerment. This study is discussed by using a comparative theory analysis method that related to entrepreneurship training, andragogy, and community empowerment from various literary sources. Analysis is conducted to find conclusions that can be justified scientifically. The results of the study conclude that: 1 social entrepreneurship training is an organized learning process from planning, implementation, and evaluation on non-formal education path aimed at enhancing community knowledge, attitude and skills for learning and endeavor, 2 entrepreneurship training based on andragogy conducted through a learning process that implements adults’ assumptions of self-conceptual, learning experiences, learning readiness, and learning orientation. 3 Community empowerment is a process of empowerment or strength to community to have the ability of individuals who completely agreed with the community in building social and economic empowerment of the community.

[Voice disorders in female teachers assessed by Voice Handicap Index].

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Niebudek-Bogusz, Ewa; Kuzańska, Anna; Woźnicka, Ewelina; Sliwińska-Kowalska, Mariola

2007-01-01

The aim of this study was to assess the application of Voice Handicap Index (VHI) in the diagnosis of occupational voice disorders in female teachers. The subjective assessment of voice by VHI was performed in fifty subjects with dysphonia diagnosed in laryngovideostroboscopic examination. The control group comprised 30 women whose jobs did not involve vocal effort. The results of the total VHI score and each of its subscales: functional, emotional and physical was significantly worse in the study group than in controls (p teachers estimated their own voice problems as a moderate disability, while 12% of them reported severe voice disability. However, all non-teachers assessed their voice problems as slight, their results ranged at the lowest level of VHI score. This study confirmed that VHI as a tool for self-assessment of voice can be a significant contribution to the diagnosis of occupational dysphonia.

Voice and choice in health care in England: understanding citizen responses to dissatisfaction.

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Dowding, Keith; John, Peter

2011-01-01

Using data from a five-year online survey the paper examines the effects of relative satisfaction with health services on individuals' voice-and-choice activity in the English public health care system. Voice is considered in three parts – individual voice (complaints), collective voice voting and participation (collective action). Exercising choice is seen in terms of complete exit (not using health care), internal exit (choosing another public service provider) and private exit (using private health care). The interaction of satisfaction and forms of voice and choice are analysed over time. Both voice and choice are correlated with dissatisfaction with those who are unhappy with the NHS more likely to privately voice and to plan to take up private health care. Those unable to choose private provision are likely to use private voice. These factors are not affected by items associated with social capital – indeed, being more trusting leads to lower voice activity.

Empowerment som frigørelse?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Pernille Tanggaard

2010-01-01

Empowerment er et at tidens modeord, og sættes i forbindelse med vidt forskellige termer eksempelvis personlighedsudvikling, borgerinddragelse og styringsideologi. Begrebet empowerment rummer efterhånden så mange betydninger, at man kan diskuterer selve essensen – i dette kapitel gøres dog et...... forsøg og forskellige dele af begrebet udfoldes. Direkte oversat betyder empowermemt at bemyndige eller sætter i stand til. Empowerment er et ofte anvendt begreb indenfor sundhedsvidenskab og i tilrettelæggelse af sundhedsfremmende initiativer. Begrebet bliver ofte defineret og benyttet forskelligt alt...... efter det bagvedliggende ideologiske perspektiv, og derfor er udgangspunktet i dette kapitel også at illustrerer forskellige ”blikke på empowerment”. Derudover inddrages to eksempler; studier af lokalsamfund og borgerinddragelse og ’den motiverende samtale’ som illustration på, hvilke udfordringer, der...

Irish nurses’ and midwives’ understanding and experiences of empowerment

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Corbally, Melissa; Scott, Anne; Matthews, Anne; MacGabhann, Liam; Murphy, Catriona

2007-01-01

Aim This study explored conceptualisations of empowerment amongst Irish nurses and midwives. Background Current literature on the meaning of empowerment in the literature lacks consensus. As a result there is a likelihood that empowerment will be conceptualised differently between managers and sub-ordinates. Method In order to get a sense of how Irish practitioners viewed empowerment, ten focus groups were held in locations throughout Ireland (n = 93). A national distribution of par...

Impact of Stakeholder Psychological Empowerment on Project Success

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Herry Pintardi Chandra

2011-05-01

Full Text Available The relationship between psychological empowerment of stakeholders and project success is an important thing that must be known by project manager. This research developed and tested the model to predict how well the impact of stakeholder psychological empowerment on project success. Stakeholder psychological empowerment was defined to have five indicator variables covering intrinsic motivation, opportunity to perform, ability to perform, task behaviors, and contextual behaviors. Meanwhile, project success can be measured by cost performance, time performance, quality performance, profitability, and customer satisfaction. In this study, it was hypothesized that stakeholder psychological empowerment influenced project success. Based on the data obtained from a questionnaire survey carried out to 204 respondents, structural equation modeling (SEM was used for predicting the performance of project success. It was found that stakeholder psychological empowerment influenced project success, especially on the ability to perform of stakeholders.

Syllogisms delivered in an angry voice lead to improved performance and engagement of a different neural system compared to neutral voice

OpenAIRE

Kathleen Walton Smith; Laura-Lee eBalkwill; Oshin eVartanian; Vinod eGoel; Vinod eGoel

2015-01-01

Despite the fact that most real-world reasoning occurs in some emotional context, very little is known about the underlying behavioral and neural implications of such context. To further understand the role of emotional context in logical reasoning we scanned 15 participants with fMRI while they engaged in logical reasoning about neutral syllogisms presented through the auditory channel in a sad, angry, or neutral tone of voice. Exposure to angry voice led to improved reasoning performance co...

The effect of voice onset time differences on lexical access in Dutch

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Alphen, P.M. van; McQueen, J.M.

2006-01-01

Effects on spoken-word recognition of prevoicing differences in Dutch initial voiced plosives were examined. In 2 cross-modal identity-priming experiments, participants heard prime words and nonwords beginning with voiced plosives with 12, 6, or 0 periods of prevoicing or matched items beginning

The impact of nurse empowerment on job satisfaction.

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Ning, Sun; Zhong, He; Libo, Wang; Qiujie, Li

2009-12-01

This paper is a report of a study conducted to test Kanter's organizational empowerment theoretical model specifying the relationships among demographics, structural empowerment, and job satisfaction. Empowerment has become an increasingly important factor in determining nurses' job satisfaction in current restructured work environments in China. A correlational, cross-sectional design was used to test Kanter's organizational empowerment model with a sample of 650 full-time nurses employed in six Chinese hospitals in 2007, with a response rate of 92% (n = 598). The instruments used were the Demographic Data Questionnaire, Conditions of Work Effectiveness Questionnaire-II, and Job Satisfaction Scale. The three lowest scoring items for Conditions of Work Effectiveness Questionnaire-II were resources, opportunity and informal power. The job satisfaction items revealing most dissatisfaction were workload and compensation, professional promotion, amount of work responsibility, work environments, and organizational policies. A statistically significant positive correlation was found between empowerment and job satisfaction (r = 0.547, P work objectives and age. The influencing factors for job satisfaction were work objectives and education level. The results provide support for Kanter's organizational empowerment theory in the Chinese nurse population. Nurses who view their work environments as empowering are more likely to provide high quality care. Enhancing empowerment in a supportive environment would allow nurses to experience satisfaction with their jobs.

Collective Value Creation and Empowerment in an Online Brand Community: A Netnographic Study on LEGO Builders

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Pekka Tuominen

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Online communities are becoming “places” of belonging, information, and emotional support that people cannot do without. These social groups have a real existence for their participants, and thus have consequential effects on many aspects of behaviour. This article examines collective value creation and empowerment in an online brand community. It presents the main features of an online brand community, the process of value co-creation, and motivators for participating in online brand communities. These key factors jointly characterize collective value creation and empowerment. This netnographic study focuses on an online brand community called BrickBuilders, which is a meeting place for LEGO builders in Finland. BrickBuilders’ members feel a sense of belonging, they share similar motivations, and they create value together.

Performer's attitudes toward seeking health care for voice issues: understanding the barriers.

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Gilman, Marina; Merati, Albert L; Klein, Adam M; Hapner, Edie R; Johns, Michael M

2009-03-01

Contemporary commercial music (CCM) performers rely heavily on their voice, yet may not be aware of the importance of proactive voice care. This investigation intends to identify perceptions and barriers to seeking voice care among CCM artists. This cross-sectional observational study used a 10-item Likert-based response questionnaire to assess current perceptions regarding voice care in a population of randomly selected participants of professional CCM conference. Subjects (n=78) were queried regarding their likelihood to seek medical care for minor medical problems and specifically problems with their voice. Additional questions investigated anxiety about seeking voice care from a physician specialist, speech language pathologist, or voice coach; apprehension regarding findings of laryngeal examination, laryngeal imaging procedures; and the effect of medical insurance on the likelihood of seeking medical care. Eighty-two percent of subjects reported that their voice was a critical part of their profession; 41% stated that they were not likely to seek medical care for problems with their voice; and only 19% were reluctant to seek care for general medical problems (Peducation about the importance of voice care is needed in this population of vocal performers.

Voice disorders in Nigerian primary school teachers.

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Akinbode, R; Lam, K B H; Ayres, J G; Sadhra, S

2014-07-01

The prolonged use or abuse of voice may lead to vocal fatigue and vocal fold tissue damage. School teachers routinely use their voices intensively at work and are therefore at a higher risk of dysphonia. To determine the prevalence of voice disorders among primary school teachers in Lagos, Nigeria, and to explore associated risk factors. Teaching and non-teaching staff from 19 public and private primary schools completed a self-administered questionnaire to obtain information on personal lifestyles, work experience and environment, and voice disorder symptoms. Dysphonia was defined as the presence of at least one of the following: hoarseness, repetitive throat clearing, tired voice or straining to speak. A total of 341 teaching and 155 non-teaching staff participated. The prevalence of dysphonia in teachers was 42% compared with 18% in non-teaching staff. A significantly higher proportion of the teachers reported that voice symptoms had affected their ability to communicate effectively. School type (public/private) did not predict the presence of dysphonia. Statistically significant associations were found for regular caffeinated drink intake (odds ratio [OR] = 3.07; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.51-6.62), frequent upper respiratory tract infection (OR = 3.60; 95% CI: 1.39-9.33) and raised voice while teaching (OR = 10.1; 95% CI: 5.07-20.2). Nigerian primary school teachers were at risk for dysphonia. Important environment and personal factors were upper respiratory infection, the need to frequently raise the voice when teaching and regular intake of caffeinated drinks. Dysphonia was not associated with age or years of teaching. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Listening to Schneiderian Voices: A Novel Phenomenological Analysis.

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Rosen, Cherise; Chase, Kayla A; Jones, Nev; Grossman, Linda S; Gin, Hannah; Sharma, Rajiv P

This paper reports on analyses designed to elucidate phenomenological characteristics, content and experience specifically targeting participants with Schneiderian voices conversing/commenting (VC) while exploring differences in clinical presentation and quality of life compared to those with voices not conversing (VNC). This mixed-method investigation of Schneiderian voices included standardized clinical metrics and exploratory phenomenological interviews designed to elicit in-depth information about the characteristics, content, meaning, and personification of auditory verbal hallucinations. The subjective experience shows a striking pattern of VC, as they are experienced as internal at initial onset and during the longer-term course of illness when compared to VNC. Participants in the VC group were more likely to attribute the origin of their voices to an external source such as God, telepathic communication, or mediumistic sources. VC and VNC were described as characterological entities that were distinct from self (I/we vs. you). We also found an association between VC and the positive, cognitive, and depression symptom profile. However, we did not find a significant group difference in overall quality of life. The clinical portrait of VC is complex, multisensory, and distinct, and suggests a need for further research into the biopsychosocial interface between subjective experience, socioenvironmental constraints, individual psychology, and the biological architecture of intersecting symptoms. © 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Singing voice outcomes following singing voice therapy.

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Dastolfo-Hromack, Christina; Thomas, Tracey L; Rosen, Clark A; Gartner-Schmidt, Jackie

2016-11-01

The objectives of this study were to describe singing voice therapy (SVT), describe referred patient characteristics, and document the outcomes of SVT. Retrospective. Records of patients receiving SVT between June 2008 and June 2013 were reviewed (n = 51). All diagnoses were included. Demographic information, number of SVT sessions, and symptom severity were retrieved from the medical record. Symptom severity was measured via the 10-item Singing Voice Handicap Index (SVHI-10). Treatment outcome was analyzed by diagnosis, history of previous training, and SVHI-10. SVHI-10 scores decreased following SVT (mean change = 11, 40% decrease) (P singing lessons (n = 10) also completed an average of three SVT sessions. Primary muscle tension dysphonia (MTD1) and benign vocal fold lesion (lesion) were the most common diagnoses. Most patients (60%) had previous vocal training. SVHI-10 decrease was not significantly different between MTD and lesion. This is the first outcome-based study of SVT in a disordered population. Diagnosis of MTD or lesion did not influence treatment outcomes. Duration of SVT was short (approximately three sessions). Voice care providers are encouraged to partner with a singing voice therapist to provide optimal care for the singing voice. This study supports the use of SVT as a tool for the treatment of singing voice disorders. 4 Laryngoscope, 126:2546-2551, 2016. © 2016 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.

Design and Implementation of an Interactive Website for Pediatric Voice Therapy-The Concept of In-Between Care: A Telehealth Model.

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Doarn, Charles R; Zacharias, Stephanie; Keck, Casey Stewart; Tabangin, Meredith; DeAlarcon, Alessandro; Kelchner, Lisa

2018-06-05

This article describes the design and implementation of a web-based portal developed to provide supported home practice between weekly voice therapy sessions delivered through telehealth to children with voice disorders. This in-between care consisted of supported home practice that was remotely monitored by speech-language pathologists (SLPs). A web-based voice therapy portal (VTP) was developed as a platform so participants could complete voice therapy home practice by an interdisciplinary team of SLPs (specialized in pediatric voice therapy), telehealth specialists, biomedical informaticians, and interface designers. The VTP was subsequently field tested in a group of children with voice disorders, participating in a larger telehealth study. Building the VTP for supported home practice for pediatric voice therapy was challenging, but successful. Key interactive features of the final site included 11 vocal hygiene questions, traditional voice therapy exercises grouped into levels, audio/visual voice therapy demonstrations, a store-and-retrieval system for voice samples, message/chat function, written guidelines for weekly therapy exercises, and questionnaires for parents to complete after each therapy session. Ten participants (9-14 years of age) diagnosed with a voice disorder were enrolled for eight weekly telehealth voice therapy sessions with follow-up in-between care provided using the VTP. The development and implementation of the VTP as a novel platform for the delivery of voice therapy home practice sessions were effective. We found that a versatile individual, who can work with all project staff (speak the language of both SLPs and information technologists), is essential to the development process. Once the website was established, participants and SLPs effectively utilized the web-based VTP. They found it feasible and useful for needed in-between care and reinforcement of therapeutic exercises.

SCHOOL COMMUNITY PERCEPTION OF LIBRARY APPS AGAINTS LIBRARY EMPOWERMENT

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Achmad Riyadi Alberto

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract. This research is motivated by the development of information and communication technology (ICT in the library world so rapidly that allows libraries in the present to develop its services into digital-based services. This study aims to find out the school community’s perception of library apps developed by Riche Cynthia Johan, Hana Silvana, and Holin Sulistyo and its influence on library empowerment at the library of SD Laboratorium Percontohan UPI Bandung. Library apps in this research belong to the context of m-libraries, which is a library that meets the needs of its users by using mobile platforms such as smartphones,computers, and other mobile devices. Empowerment of library is the utilization of all aspects of the implementation of libraries to the best in order to achieve the expected goals. An analysis of the schoolcommunity’s perception of library apps using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM includes: ease of use, usefulness, usability, usage trends, and real-use conditions. While the empowerment of the library includes aspects: information empowerment, empowerment of learning resources, empowerment of human resources, empowerment of library facilities, and library promotion. The research method used in this research is descriptive method with quantitative approach. Population and sample in this research is school community at SD Laboratorium Percontohan UPI Bandung. Determination of sample criteria by using disproportionate stratified random sampling with the number of samples of 83 respondents. Data analysis using simple linear regression to measure the influence of school community perception about library apps to library empowerment. The result of data analysis shows that there is influence between school community perception about library apps to library empowerment at library of SD Laboratorium Percontohan UPI Bandung which is proved by library acceptance level and library empowerment improvement.

Addressing holistic health and work empowerment through a body-mind-spirit intervention program among helping professionals in continuous education: A pilot study.

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Ho, Rainbow T H; Sing, Cheuk Yan; Wong, Venus P Y

2016-01-01

To examine the effectiveness of a body-mind-spirit (BMS) intervention program in improving the holistic well-being and work empowerment among helping professionals in continuous education. Forty-four helping professionals, who were in their first-year part-time postgraduate study, participated in the present study. All participants attended a 3-day BMS intervention program which emphasized a holistic approach to health and well-being. Ratings on their levels of physical distress, daily functioning, affect, spirituality, and psychological empowerment at work were compared before and immediately after the intervention. Participants reported significantly lower levels of negative affect and physical distress, and were less spiritually disoriented after the intervention. Enhanced levels of daily functioning, positive affect, spiritual resilience, and tranquility were also reported. Results also suggested that participants were empowered at work, and specifically felt more able to make an impact on work outcomes. The 3-day BMS intervention program produced a positive and measurable effect on participants' holistic well-being and empowerment at work. Educators in related fields could incorporate holistic practices into the curriculum to better prepare the future practitioners, leading to better outcomes both to the professionals themselves and their clients or patients.

Self-Voice, but Not Self-Face, Reduces the McGurk Effect

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Christopher Aruffo

2011-10-01

Full Text Available The McGurk effect represents a perceptual illusion resulting from the integration of an auditory syllable dubbed onto an incongruous visual syllable. The involuntary and impenetrable nature of the illusion is frequently used to support the multisensory nature of audiovisual speech perception. Here we show that both self-speech and familiarized speech reduce the effect. When self-speech was separated into self-voice and self-face mismatched with different faces and voices, only self-voice weakened the illusion. Thus, a familiar vocal identity automatically confers a processing advantage to multisensory speech, while a familiar facial identity does not. When another group of participants were familiarized with the speakers, participants' ability to take advantage of that familiarization was inversely correlated with their overall susceptibility to the McGurk illusion.

Indirect vs Direct Voice Therapy for Children With Vocal Nodules: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

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Hartnick, Christopher; Ballif, Catherine; De Guzman, Vanessa; Sataloff, Robert; Campisi, Paolo; Kerschner, Joseph; Shembel, Adrianna; Reda, Domenic; Shi, Helen; Sheryka Zacny, Elinore; Bunting, Glenn

2018-02-01

Benign vocal fold nodules affect 12% to 22% of the pediatric population, and 95% of otolaryngologists recommend voice therapy as treatment. However, no randomized clinical trials that we are aware of have shown its benefits. To determine the impact of voice therapy in children with vocal fold nodules according to pretherapy and posttherapy scores on the Pediatric Voice-Related Quality of Life (PVRQOL) survey; secondary objectives included changes in phonatory parameters. For this multicenter randomized clinical trial, 114 children ages 6 to 10 years with vocal fold nodules, PVRQOL scores less than 87.5, and dysphonia for longer than 12 weeks were recruited from outpatient voice and speech clinics. This age range was identified because these patients have not experienced pubertal changes of the larynx, tolerate stroboscopy, and cooperate with voice therapy. Participants were blinded to treatment arm. Participants received either indirect or direct therapy for 8 to 12 weeks. Indirect therapy focused on education and discussion of voice principles, while direct treatment used the stimulus, response, antecedent paradigm. The primary outcome measure was PVRQOL score change before and after treatment. Secondary phonatory measures were also compared. Overall, 114 children were recruited for study (mean [SD] age, 8 [1.4] years; 83 males [73%]); with 57 randomized to receive either indirect or direct therapy. Both direct and indirect therapy approaches showed significant differences in PVRQOL scores pretherapy to posttherapy. The mean increase in PVRQOL score for direct therapy was 19.2, and 14.7 for indirect therapy (difference, 4.5; 95.3% CI, -10.8 to 19.8). Of 44 participants in the direct therapy group, 27 (61%) achieved a clinically meaningful PVRQOL improvement, compared with 26 of 49 (53%) for indirect therapy (difference, 8%; 95% CI, -12 to 28). Post hoc stratification showed robust effects in the direct therapy group for older children (Cohen d = 0.50) and the

Empowerment evaluation: a collaborative approach to evaluating and transforming a medical school curriculum.

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Fetterman, David M; Deitz, Jennifer; Gesundheit, Neil

2010-05-01

Medical schools continually evolve their curricula to keep students abreast of advances in basic, translational, and clinical sciences. To provide feedback to educators, critical evaluation of the effectiveness of these curricular changes is necessary. This article describes a method of curriculum evaluation, called "empowerment evaluation," that is new to medical education. It mirrors the increasingly collaborative culture of medical education and offers tools to enhance the faculty's teaching experience and students' learning environments. Empowerment evaluation provides a method for gathering, analyzing, and sharing data about a program and its outcomes and encourages faculty, students, and support personnel to actively participate in system changes. It assumes that the more closely stakeholders are involved in reflecting on evaluation findings, the more likely they are to take ownership of the results and to guide curricular decision making and reform. The steps of empowerment evaluation include collecting evaluation data, designating a "critical friend" to communicate areas of potential improvement, establishing a culture of evidence, encouraging a cycle of reflection and action, cultivating a community of learners, and developing reflective educational practitioners. This article illustrates how stakeholders used the principles of empowerment evaluation to facilitate yearly cycles of improvement at the Stanford University School of Medicine, which implemented a major curriculum reform in 2003-2004. The use of empowerment evaluation concepts and tools fostered greater institutional self-reflection, led to an evidence-based model of decision making, and expanded opportunities for students, faculty, and support staff to work collaboratively to improve and refine the medical school's curriculum.

Investigating Challenges Facing Self-Management Empowerment Education in Adolescents and Youths with Major Thalassemia

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Razzazan

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Background Thalassemia is considered an important public health problem worldwide, especially in developing and poor countries. Although several advanced techniques have been developed for prevention of thalassemia in the recent years, many adolescents and youths are still living with this disease. Independence from parents, decisions about high-risk behaviors, uncovering the identity, and adapting to mental and physical effects of the disease occur together in adolescents. Objectives This study was conducted to explore challenges of self-management empowerment in adolescents and youths with major thalassemia. Materials and Methods This was a descriptive-exploratory study. The study population consisted of adolescents and youths with major thalassemia who had medical records in the Bushehr Thalassemia Center, affiliated with Bushehr University of Medical Sciences. The study samples were purposively selected. Demographic information questionnaire and empowerment questionnaire were used to collect data from the semistructured interview. We analyzed qualitative data by content analysis method and quantitative data by descriptive (mean, standard deviation and analytical (Student's t-test, ANOVA and Pearson’s correlation coefficient statistical methods, using the statistical software SPSS 18. Results In qualitative part of the study, data from semistructured in-depth interviews with 15 participants were coded and summarized in five themes including: 1 awareness of personal changes; 2 need for adaptation; 3 maintaining independence and self-management; 4 uncovering the identity and role playing; and 5 sense of control and satisfaction. Results of the quantitative part showed that the overall score of participants on empowerment was 92.46 of 149 scores, which showed a moderate situation in the empowerment of these individuals. In addition, the empowerment score showed no statistically significant correlation with demographic characteristics

Respiratory Tract Infections and Voice Quality in 4-Year-old Children in the STEPS Study.

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Kallvik, Emma; Toivonen, Laura; Peltola, Ville; Kaljonen, Anne; Simberg, Susanna

2018-03-02

Health-related factors are part of the multifactorial background of dysphonia in children. Respiratory tract infections affect the same systems and structures that are used for voice production. The purpose of this study was to investigate if the number of respiratory tract infections or the viral etiology were significant predictors for a more hoarse voice quality. The participants were 4-year-old children who participated in the multidisciplinary STEPS study (Steps to the Healthy Development and Well-being of Children) where they were followed up from pregnancy or birth to 4 years of age. Data were collected through questionnaires and a health diary filled in by the parents. Some of the children were followed up more intensively for respiratory tract infections during the first 2 years of life, and nasal swab samples were taken at the onset of respiratory symptoms. Our participants were 489 of these children who had participated in the follow-up for at least 1 year and for whom data on respiratory tract infections and data on voice quality were available. The number of hospitalizations due to respiratory tract infections was a significant predictor for a more hoarse voice quality. Neither the number of rhinovirus infections nor the number of respiratory syncytial virus infections was statistically significant predictors for a more hoarse voice quality. Based on our results, we would suggest including questions on the presence of respiratory tract infections that have led to hospitalization in the pediatric voice anamnesis. Whether the viral etiology of respiratory tract infections is of importance or not requires further research. Copyright © 2018 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Enhancing nurses' empowerment: the role of supervisors' empowering management practices.

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Montani, Francesco; Courcy, François; Giorgi, Gabriele; Boilard, Amélie

2015-09-01

This study tests a theoretical model where: (a) nurses' dispositional resistance to change is indirectly negatively related to behavioural empowerment through the mediating role of psychological empowerment; and (b) supervisors' empowering management practices buffer both the negative relationship between dispositional resistance to change and psychological empowerment and the indirect negative relationship between resistance to change and behavioural empowerment via psychological empowerment. Promoting a high level of empowerment among nursing personnel is important to ensure their effectiveness in the context of organizational change. It is thus essential to advance our current understanding of the factors that hamper nurses' psychological and behavioural expressions of empowerment and to clarify supervisor practices that can overcome such barriers. A cross-sectional research design. We collected survey data during 2012 from a sample of 197 nurses from a Canadian hospital undergoing a major organizational change. Results from moderated mediation analyses provided evidence for an indirect negative relationship between dispositional resistance to change and behavioural empowerment through psychological empowerment, and for a moderating (buffering) effect of supervisors' empowering management practices on this mediated relationship. These findings provided support for our hypotheses. Supervisors' empowering management practices represent an important contextual buffer against the negative effects of dispositional resistance to change on nurses' empowerment. Organizations should develop empowering management skills among nurses' supervisors to counteract the detrimental effects of dispositional resistance to change and to sustain an empowered nursing workforce. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Successful Employee Empowerment: Major Determinants in the Jordanian Context

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Khadra DAHOU

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Being the most important asset, the human resource represents today the source of the organizations’ sustainable competitive advantage. This focus on the employee as the organizations’ core of human capital management drives the current interest in empowerment. This paper explores the concept of employee empowerment and the main influential factors in implementing an empowerment initiative: job design, transformational leadership, decision-making authority, continuous training and development, sharing information, and self-managed teams. Using a hypotheses testing approach, this correlational cross-sectional field study investigates the influence of the six factors on the adoption of employee empowerment. Using a questionnaire method, data was collected from Jordanian commercial banks. The results of a multiple linear regression analysis revealed that sharing information, job design, transformational leadership and decision making authority have a positive effect on employee empowerment. Sharing information and adopting the appropriate job design inside the organization have the strongest influence in that fostering these initiatives would certainly make banks’ employees’ empowerment successful. The research provides insights into the perception of employee empowerment in the Jordanian context, specifically in the banking industry, a high service- oriented sector where empowering employees become a must for a better customer service

Effects of Voice on Emotional Arousal

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Psyche eLoui

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Music is a powerful medium capable of eliciting a broad range of emotions. Although the relationship between language and music is well documented, relatively little is known about the effects of lyrics and the voice on the emotional processing of music and on listeners’ preferences. In the present study, we investigated the effects of vocals in music on participants’ perceived valence and arousal in songs. Participants (N = 50 made valence and arousal ratings for familiar songs that were presented with and without the voice. We observed robust effects of vocal content on perceived arousal. Furthermore, we found that the effect of the voice on enhancing arousal ratings is independent of familiarity of the song and differs across genders and age: females were more influenced by vocals than males; furthermore these gender effects were enhanced among older adults. Results highlight the effects of gender and aging in emotion perception and are discussed in terms of the social roles of music.

Empowerment: a conceptual discussion.

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Tengland, Per-Anders

2008-06-01

The concept of 'empowerment' is used frequently in a number of professional areas, from psychotherapy to social work. But even if the same term is used, it is not always clear if the concept denotes the same goals or the same practice in these various fields. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the discussion and to find a plausible and useful definition of the concept that is suitable for work in various professions. Several suggestions are discussed in the paper, for example control over life or health, autonomy, ability, self-efficacy, self-esteem, and freedom, and it is concluded that there are two plausible complementary uses, one as a goal and one as a process or approach. Empowerment as a goal is to have control over the determinants of one's quality of life, and empowerment as a process is to create a professional relation where the client or community takes control over the change process, determining both the goals of this process and the means to use.

Vocal effectiveness of speech-language pathology students: Before and after voice use during service delivery

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Couch, Stephanie; Zieba, Dominique; van der Merwe, Anita

2015-01-01

Background As a professional voice user, it is imperative that a speech-language pathologist's (SLP) vocal effectiveness remain consistent throughout the day. Many factors may contribute to reduced vocal effectiveness, including prolonged voice use, vocally abusive behaviours, poor vocal hygiene and environmental factors. Objectives To determine the effect of service delivery on the perceptual and acoustic features of voice. Method A quasi-experimental., pre-test–post-test research design was used. Participants included third- and final-year speech-language pathology students at the University of Pretoria (South Africa). Voice parameters were evaluated in a pre-test measurement, after which the participants provided two consecutive hours of therapy. A post-test measurement was then completed. Data analysis consisted of an instrumental analysis in which the multidimensional voice programme (MDVP) and the voice range profile (VRP) were used to measure vocal parameters and then calculate the dysphonia severity index (DSI). The GRBASI scale was used to conduct a perceptual analysis of voice quality. Data were processed using descriptive statistics to determine change in each measured parameter after service delivery. Results A change of clinical significance was observed in the acoustic and perceptual parameters of voice. Conclusion Guidelines for SLPs in order to maintain optimal vocal effectiveness were suggested. PMID:26304213

Empowerment of Women at Grassroots Level in Tanzania: The Case ...

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All of them indicated that they sometimes participate in decision-making process ... will not have a voice in decision-making process due to their limited number, ... of heavy workload at home, and meetings being called at inconvenient time.

Klantgestuurd voorraadbeleid en empowerment. Over Te Woon en andere initiatieven van woningcorporaties

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Sake Zijlstra

2011-07-01

driven housing management initiatives be ordered and valuated (2 is answered by using different approaches to management and tenant influence devised from literature. Housing associations in the Netherlands are limited in their actions and operations by law (amongst others the BBSH. The law prescribes certain main tasks to housing associations and several policy domains have been used to determine the policy subjects that can be addressed. The influence the tenants can have on these subjects can be valuated by using the ladder of citizen participation. The ladder illustrates the grade to which the tenant has actually a say in matters and thus shares control with the housing association. In the most extreme case the tenant gets the full control over the dwelling by obtaining the property rights. Limitations are to be found in the legal system which prescribes the basic division of property rights between owners and users and in the laws concerning the rental housing market. Based on a theoretical exploration of the opportunities for the transfer of control from the housing association to the tenants by comparing the grades of citizen control with the policy domains, one domain proves to be promising. The policy domain of ‘dwelling purchase and sale’ offers the most opportunities to transfer control since in the extreme case the tenant could own its own dwelling, the tenant gets full property rights and thus transcends the ladder of citizen participation. The policy domain purchase and sale of dwellings thus offers the most opportunities to provide tenants with freedom, autonomy and personal development (empowerment. Which initiatives in client-driven housing management can be found in the Dutch housing associations’ practice (3 is answered based on a survey amongst associations. The housing associations that participated reckoned every initiative that gave the tenant more than a single option to client-driven housing management. The analysis of the initiatives

Psychological Empowerment Model in Iranian Pregnant Women

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Ali Taghipour

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Background: Women’s empowerment programs during pregnancy focus primarily on increasing women’s health goals and psychological empowerment has been considered important in most issues related to pregnant mothers’ mental health. Using path analysis, this study aims to examine the direct and indirect components of psychological empowerment of pregnant mothers. Methods: This model-testing study was conducted in Gorgan, northwest of Iran during three months in spring of 2015. Through random cluster sampling, a total number of 160 pregnant women were selected from 10 urban medical centers and clinics as primary centers. We used Spritzer’s Psychological empowerment scale. Suitable sampling based on Nunally and Bernstein was followed in the model. The relationships between the dependent variables were then examined by means of path analysis using Amos 18. Results: The psychological empowerment of pregnant mothers (PEPW model is impacted by individual factors, such as marriage age and employment, including some subjectively rated factors such as marital satisfaction and experience of violence. The PEPW model was deemed appropriate as optimum conditions indicators of goodness of fit; low index of χ2/df shows little difference between the conceptual model and observed data, while RMSEA value indicated the goodness of fit. Other indicators such as CMIN=0.957, CMIN/DF=0.957, P-CLOSE=0.418, χ2=0.957 and probability level=0.328 the fact that the model is ideal. The mothers’ employment had the highest coefficient in the PEPW path model .731 (0.443, 0.965 bootstrap confidence intervals by 95%, and with a p-value of less than 0.05. Conclusions: The mothers’ employment is the most important factor in psychological empowerment, but it cannot be addressed quickly. Programming to increase marital satisfaction followed by a decrease in family violence and prevention of early marriage are necessary for promotion of psychological empowerment during

Empowerment in critical care - a concept analysis.

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Wåhlin, Ingrid

2017-03-01

The purpose of this paper was to analyse how the concept of empowerment is defined in the scientific literature in relation to critical care. As empowerment is a mutual process affecting all individuals involved, the perspectives of not only patients and next of kin but also staff were sought. A literature review and a concept analysis based on Walker and Avant's analysis procedure were used to identify the basic elements of empowerment in critical care. Twenty-two articles with a focus on critical care were discovered and included in the investigation. A mutual and supportive relationship, knowledge, skills, power within oneself and self-determination were found to be the common attributes of empowerment in critical care. The results could be adapted and used for all parties involved in critical care - whether patients, next of kin or staff - as these defining attributes are assumed to be universal to all three groups, even if the more specific content of each attribute varies between groups and individuals. Even if empowerment is only sparsely used in relation to critical care, it appears to be a very useful concept in this context. The benefits of improving empowerment are extensive: decreased levels of distress and strain, increased sense of coherence and control over situation, and personal and/or professional development and growth, together with increased comfort and inner satisfaction. © 2016 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Nordic College.

Women’s empowerment and fertility: A review of the literature

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Upadhyay, Ushma D.; Gipson, Jessica D.; Withers, Mellissa; Lewis, Shayna; Ciaraldi, Erica J.; Fraser, Ashley; Huchko, Megan J.; Prata, Ndola

2014-01-01

Women’s empowerment has become a focal point for development efforts worldwide and there is a need for an updated, critical assessment of the existing evidence on women’s empowerment and fertility. We conducted a literature review on studies examining the relationships between women’s empowerment and several fertility-related topics. Among the 60 studies identified for this review, the majority were conducted in South Asia (n = 35) and used household decision-making as a measure of empowerment (n = 37). Overall, the vast majority of studies found some positive associations between women’s empowerment and lower fertility, longer birth intervals, and lower rates of unintended pregnancy, but there was some variation in results. In many studies, results differed based on the measure of empowerment used, sociopolitical or gender environment, or sub-population studied. This article is one of the first evaluations of the literature assessing the relationships between women’s empowerment and fertility. We identify several key issues that merit further investigation. PMID:24955875

Youth Voice in Nigerian School-based Management Committees

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Bashiru Bako Umar

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In Nigeria, School-Based Management Committees (SBMCs aim to provide an opportunity for all stakeholders, particularly the vulnerable groups in the school’s host communities such as young people and women to partake in school governance. Research on the experiences of youth voice in the committees is scant, however, as much of the existing literature on SBMCs focuses on program outcomes. Using qualitative research interviews, observations, and document analysis, this study addressed this gap by exploring how youth participate and express themselves in two SBMCs in Niger State, Nigeria. The findings, which were derived from 19 youth and adult participants, were drawn from SBMC members out of which 12 were youth between the ages 13 and 25, while 7 were adults aged 40 and above. The participants revealed that youth committee members expressed their voice in the committees through participating in a number of committee activities. Specifically, the youth participated in decision-making during meetings, aided in the construction of committee projects, undertook administrative/managerial functions and monitored the committee’s projects. They also participated in revenue generation, planning, school visits and supervision, advocacy, and sensitization campaigns.

Guided self-help cognitive-behaviour Intervention for VoicEs (GiVE): Results from a pilot randomised controlled trial in a transdiagnostic sample.

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Hazell, Cassie M; Hayward, Mark; Cavanagh, Kate; Jones, Anna-Marie; Strauss, Clara

2017-10-12

Few patients have access to cognitive behaviour therapy for psychosis (CBTp) even though at least 16 sessions of CBTp is recommended in treatment guidelines. Briefer CBTp could improve access as the same number of therapists could see more patients. In addition, focusing on single psychotic symptoms, such as auditory hallucinations ('voices'), rather than on psychosis more broadly, may yield greater benefits. This pilot RCT recruited 28 participants (with a range of diagnoses) from NHS mental health services who were distressed by hearing voices. The study compared an 8-session guided self-help CBT intervention for distressing voices with a wait-list control. Data were collected at baseline and at 12weeks with post-therapy assessments conducted blind to allocation. Voice-impact was the pre-determined primary outcome. Secondary outcomes were depression, anxiety, wellbeing and recovery. Mechanism measures were self-esteem, beliefs about self, beliefs about voices and voice-relating. Recruitment and retention was feasible with low study (3.6%) and therapy (14.3%) dropout. There were large, statistically significant between-group effects on the primary outcome of voice-impact (d=1.78; 95% CIs: 0.86-2.70), which exceeded the minimum clinically important difference. Large, statistically significant effects were found on a number of secondary and mechanism measures. Large effects on the pre-determined primary outcome of voice-impact are encouraging, and criteria for progressing to a definitive trial are met. Significant between-group effects on measures of self-esteem, negative beliefs about self and beliefs about voice omnipotence are consistent with these being mechanisms of change and this requires testing in a future trial. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Microfinance and female empowerment : Do institutions matter?

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Haile, Hirut Bekele; Bock, Bettina; Folmer, Henk

2012-01-01

Microfinance programmes increasingly target poor women in developing countries with the expectation that, besides poverty reduction, having access to microcredit advances their empowerment. However, research provides conflicting evidence and shows that empowerment may not, or may only be partially

Microfinance and female empowerment: Do institutions matter?

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Haile Hirut, Bekele; Folmer, H.; Bock, B.B.

2012-01-01

Microfinance programmes increasingly target poor women in developing countries with the expectation that, besides poverty reduction, having access to microcredit advances their empowerment. However, research provides conflicting evidence and shows that empowerment may not, or may only be partially

Multipliers of Voice Campaign in Brasilia

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Maria Lucia Graziano Magalhães Torres

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Report of the livings course experiments Technical and Resources of Expressiveness to talk to Public, promoted by NESPROM – CEAM – UNB in 2010-2011, addressing the topic of skills development to speak to the public with safety and confidence, as well as the importance of the use of the voice in this process. It can be observed that by providing students we see advances in expressiveness of the participants during the course and the commitment that perform to obtain a quality result, producing the material based on the information available on the website of the Brazilian society of speech therapy. All present themselves for a second time before the Facilitator, demonstrating safety and the use of the techniques learned. There was satisfaction with the gains on public speaking, even because, talk about a light object and that they all have, as the voice, brings security and trust for the apprentice. Ending a highlight poetry produced by one of the participants completing the course.

A three-dimensional model of women's empowerment

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Huis, Marloes A.; Hansen, Nina; Otten, Sabine; Lensink, Robert

2017-01-01

Women's empowerment is an important goal in achieving sustainable development worldwide. Offering access to microfinance services to women is one way to increase women's empowerment. However, empirical evidence provides mixed results with respect to its effectiveness. We reviewed previous

Conceptualising patient empowerment: a mixed methods study

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Bravo, P.; Edwards, A.; Barr, P.J.; Scholl, I.; Elwyn, G.; Mcallister, M.

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND: In recent years, interventions and health policy programmes have been established to promote patient empowerment, with a particular focus on patients affected by long-term conditions. However, a clear definition of patient empowerment is lacking, making it difficult to assess

Violence in schools and the voice of teachers.

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Dornelas, Rodrigo; Santos, Thaynara Alves Dos; Oliveira, Daniela Sena de; Irineu, Roxane de Alencar; Brito, Aline; Silva, Kelly

2017-08-10

To correlate self-reporting of voice disorders with habits that impact voice production and situations of violence experienced by teachers. The study involved 41 elementary-school teachers of rural and urban areas. Two instruments were used for data collection: The Vocal Production Condition - Teacher (CPV-P) questionnaire and the Screening Index for Voice Disorders - ITDV. The chi-square test was used to verify association among variables with a significance level of 5%. The sample consisted of 8 men and 33 women aged 25-66 years with a median of 39 years. Regarding vocal habits, 33 people (80.5%) mentioned the screaming as usual practice, 40 people (97.5%) declared they talk a lot. As for voice care, 31 people (73.1%) reported drinking water while using their voice. As for the ITDV total score, 30 teachers (73.1%) were above the score threshold set for predisposition to vocal disorders. Statistical analysis revealed a significant association between female participants and complaint of graffiti writings as a type of violence. No significant correlation between the ITDV results with gender and the ITDV with forms of violence evaluated in the study was indicated. Self-reporting of voice disorders showed no significant relationship with acts of violence. However, analysis of the context of violence in schools and vocal problems are issues worthy of attention, particularly the observed naturalization of gender inssues, which is seldom problematized.

Can blind persons accurately assess body size from the voice?

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Pisanski, Katarzyna; Oleszkiewicz, Anna; Sorokowska, Agnieszka

2016-04-01

Vocal tract resonances provide reliable information about a speaker's body size that human listeners use for biosocial judgements as well as speech recognition. Although humans can accurately assess men's relative body size from the voice alone, how this ability is acquired remains unknown. In this study, we test the prediction that accurate voice-based size estimation is possible without prior audiovisual experience linking low frequencies to large bodies. Ninety-one healthy congenitally or early blind, late blind and sighted adults (aged 20-65) participated in the study. On the basis of vowel sounds alone, participants assessed the relative body sizes of male pairs of varying heights. Accuracy of voice-based body size assessments significantly exceeded chance and did not differ among participants who were sighted, or congenitally blind or who had lost their sight later in life. Accuracy increased significantly with relative differences in physical height between men, suggesting that both blind and sighted participants used reliable vocal cues to size (i.e. vocal tract resonances). Our findings demonstrate that prior visual experience is not necessary for accurate body size estimation. This capacity, integral to both nonverbal communication and speech perception, may be present at birth or may generalize from broader cross-modal correspondences. © 2016 The Author(s).

Empowerment Starts Here: Seven Principles to Empowering Urban Youth

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Dye, Angela

2011-01-01

"Empowerment Starts Here" covers an experimental approach to social change within urban communities by way of seven distinct principles for student empowerment. Turning classroom methods into a school model, Preparatory School for Global Leadership was the first to experience student empowerment at a school-wide level. This book provides insight…

Empowerment in School Nursing Practice: A Grounded Theory Approach

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Broussard, Lisa

2007-01-01

Professional empowerment is vital to nurses' productivity and job satisfaction. A grounded theory study was conducted to describe the basic social process experienced by school nurses in relation to professional empowerment. Interviews with 10 school nurses led to the development of a situation-specific theory of school nurse empowerment,…

Empowerment of Cancer Survivors Through Information Technology: An Integrative Review.

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Groen, Wim G; Kuijpers, Wilma; Oldenburg, Hester Sa; Wouters, Michel Wjm; Aaronson, Neil K; van Harten, Wim H

2015-11-27

Patient empowerment may be an effective approach to strengthen the role of cancer survivors and to reduce the burden on health care. However, it is not well conceptualized, notably in oncology. Furthermore, it is unclear to what extent information technology (IT) services can contribute to empowerment of cancer survivors. We aim to define the conceptual components of patient empowerment of chronic disease patients, especially cancer survivors, and to explore the contribution of existing and new IT services to promote empowerment. Electronic databases were searched to identify theoretical and empirical articles regarding empowerment. We extracted and synthesized conceptual components of patient empowerment (ie, attributes, antecedents, and consequences) according to the integrated review methodology. We identified recent IT services for cancer survivors by examining systematic reviews and a proposed inventory of new services, and we related their features and effects to the identified components of empowerment. Based on 26 articles, we identified five main attributes of patient empowerment: (1) being autonomous and respected, (2) having knowledge, (3) having psychosocial and behavioral skills, (4) perceiving support from community, family, and friends, and (5) perceiving oneself to be useful. The latter two were specific for the cancer setting. Systematic reviews of IT services and our additional inventory helped us identify five main categories: (1) educational services, including electronic survivorship care plan services, (2) patient-to-patient services, (3) electronic patient-reported outcome (ePRO) services, (4) multicomponent services, and (5) portal services. Potential impact on empowerment included knowledge enhancement and, to a lesser extent, enhancing autonomy and skills. Newly developed services offer promising and exciting opportunities to empower cancer survivors, for instance, by providing tailored advice for supportive or follow-up care based on

Which empowerment, which Health Promotion?Conceptual convergences and divergences in preventive health practices Que empowerment, qual Promoção da Saúde?Convergências e divergências conceituais em práticas preventivas em saúde

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Marcos Santos Ferreira

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Based on the multiple meanings, "empowerment" can be identified with either conservative or critical Health Promotion approaches. From a conservative approach, the concept is viewed as an essentially individual phenomenon, centered on the provision of information and the external transfer of power in the name of the collective good. From this approach, the relationship between "psychological" and "community" empowerment is not considered. From a critical approach, the concept is viewed as a relational phenomenon that manifests itself in the dialectic conflict of interests between individuals, groups, and social classes. From this approach, "psychological" and "community" empowerment are seen as micro and macro levels of analysis, and social transformations are the result of simultaneous changes at these levels. The use of the notion of empowerment without critical reflection or political analysis of power relations in society disseminates vague, romantic, and homogeneous views of "community". Therefore, to assume the relational nature of empowerment means to accept its interdependence with the notion of participation, without which there can be no social transformation. Thus, one should be vigilant about multiple meanings that empowerment can given in Health Promotion discourse.Os múltiplos sentidos conferidos ao empowerment podem aproximá-lo de abordagens tanto conservadoras quanto críticas de Promoção da Saúde. Em roupagem conservadora, empowerment é tomado como fenômeno essencialmente individual, baseado na provisão de informação, e como transferência externa de poder em nome do bem comum. Nessa perspectiva, não são consideradas as relações entre "empowerment psicológico" e "comunitário". Em abordagem crítica, empowerment é visto como fenômeno relacional, que só se manifesta no jogo dialético de conflitos de interesses entre sujeitos, grupos e classes sociais. Nessa perspectiva, "empowerment psicológico" e "comunit

Conceptualizing pathways linking women's empowerment and prematurity in developing countries.

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Afulani, Patience A; Altman, Molly; Musana, Joseph; Sudhinaraset, May

2017-11-08

Globally, prematurity is the leading cause of death in children under the age of 5. Many efforts have focused on clinical approaches to improve the survival of premature babies. There is a need, however, to explore psychosocial, sociocultural, economic, and other factors as potential mechanisms to reduce the burden of prematurity. Women's empowerment may be a catalyst for moving the needle in this direction. The goal of this paper is to examine links between women's empowerment and prematurity in developing settings. We propose a conceptual model that shows pathways by which women's empowerment can affect prematurity and review and summarize the literature supporting the relationships we posit. We also suggest future directions for research on women's empowerment and prematurity. The key words we used for empowerment in the search were "empowerment," "women's status," "autonomy," and "decision-making," and for prematurity we used "preterm," "premature," and "prematurity." We did not use date, language, and regional restrictions. The search was done in PubMed, Population Information Online (POPLINE), and Web of Science. We selected intervening factors-factors that could potentially mediate the relationship between empowerment and prematurity-based on reviews of the risk factors and interventions to address prematurity and the determinants of those factors. There is limited evidence supporting a direct link between women's empowerment and prematurity. However, there is evidence linking several dimensions of empowerment to factors known to be associated with prematurity and outcomes for premature babies. Our review of the literature shows that women's empowerment may reduce prematurity by (1) preventing early marriage and promoting family planning, which will delay age at first pregnancy and increase interpregnancy intervals; (2) improving women's nutritional status; (3) reducing domestic violence and other stressors to improve psychological health; and (4) improving

Habermas, Pupil Voice, Rationalism, and Their Meeting with Lacan's Objet Petit A

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Moran, Paul; Murphy, Mark

2012-01-01

"Pupil voice" is a movement within state education in England that is associated with democracy, change, participation and the raising of educational standards. While receiving much attention from educators and policy makers, less attention has been paid to the theory behind the concept of pupil voice. An obvious point of theoretical…

Connections between voice ergonomic risk factors in classrooms and teachers' voice production.

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Rantala, Leena M; Hakala, Suvi; Holmqvist, Sofia; Sala, Eeva

2012-01-01

The aim of the study was to investigate if voice ergonomic risk factors in classrooms correlated with acoustic parameters of teachers' voice production. The voice ergonomic risk factors in the fields of working culture, working postures and indoor air quality were assessed in 40 classrooms using the Voice Ergonomic Assessment in Work Environment - Handbook and Checklist. Teachers (32 females, 8 males) from the above-mentioned classrooms recorded text readings before and after a working day. Fundamental frequency, sound pressure level (SPL) and the slope of the spectrum (alpha ratio) were analyzed. The higher the number of the risk factors in the classrooms, the higher SPL the teachers used and the more strained the males' voices (increased alpha ratio) were. The SPL was already higher before the working day in the teachers with higher risk than in those with lower risk. In the working environment with many voice ergonomic risk factors, speakers increase voice loudness and use more strained voice quality (males). A practical implication of the results is that voice ergonomic assessments are needed in schools. Copyright © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Crazy about Empowerment?

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Kizilos, Peter

1990-01-01

Discusses empowerment, the process of coming to feel and behave as though one has power over significant aspect of one's life or work, as it relates to employee productivity, motivation, and behavior. (JOW)

Web life: Voices of the Manhattan Project

Science.gov (United States)

2014-02-01

Voices of the Manhattan Project was launched in October 2012 with the aim of preserving the memories and experiences of scientists and other workers who participated in the US-led effort to build an atomic bomb during the Second World War.

When the face fits: recognition of celebrities from matching and mismatching faces and voices.

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Stevenage, Sarah V; Neil, Greg J; Hamlin, Iain

2014-01-01

The results of two experiments are presented in which participants engaged in a face-recognition or a voice-recognition task. The stimuli were face-voice pairs in which the face and voice were co-presented and were either "matched" (same person), "related" (two highly associated people), or "mismatched" (two unrelated people). Analysis in both experiments confirmed that accuracy and confidence in face recognition was consistently high regardless of the identity of the accompanying voice. However accuracy of voice recognition was increasingly affected as the relationship between voice and accompanying face declined. Moreover, when considering self-reported confidence in voice recognition, confidence remained high for correct responses despite the proportion of these responses declining across conditions. These results converged with existing evidence indicating the vulnerability of voice recognition as a relatively weak signaller of identity, and results are discussed in the context of a person-recognition framework.

Social Class as Moderator of the Relationship between (Dis)Empowering Processes and Psychological Empowerment

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Christens, Brian D.; Speer, Paul W.; Peterson, N. Andrew

2011-01-01

This study examined whether social class moderated the relationship between empowering and disempowering processes and psychological empowerment (PE) in a sample of individuals from five community organizing initiatives (N=490). Hierarchical regression analyses were used to test the relationship between community participation (CP) and alienation…

Perceived influence, decision-making and access to information in family services as factors of parental empowerment: a cross-sectional study of parents with young children.

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Vuorenmaa, Maaret; Halme, Nina; Perälä, Marja-Leena; Kaunonen, Marja; Åstedt-Kurki, Päivi

2016-06-01

Parental empowerment is known to increase parents' resources and to reduce stress, and therefore to improve family well-being. Professionals working in family services (child health clinics, school health care, day care, preschool and primary school) encounter families in various everyday settings and can significantly support parental empowerment. This study aimed (i) to identify associations between parental empowerment and demographic and family service characteristics (i.e. parents' participation and perceived influence, decision-making and access to information) and (ii) to identify predictors of maternal and paternal empowerment. Study design was cross-sectional. Participants were mothers (n = 571) and fathers (n = 384) of children aged 0-9 who were selected by stratified random sampling in 2009. Associations were analysed by t-test, one-way analysis of variance and multiple linear regression analysis. Sufficient perceived influence and joint decision-making by family and professionals on family service appointments emerged as significant variables of increased parental empowerment. Access to adequate information about municipal services was also associated with high empowerment. These family service characteristics were associated with parents' sense that they were able to manage in everyday life and had influence on specific service situations and family services in general. Mothers with a child aged under 3 or a child in home care or primary school, and fathers with a lower education feel less empowered in family services than other parents. Knowledge about the factors associated with parental empowerment can contribute to further reinforce parental empowerment, help identify parents who need special attention and contribute to the development of family services. © 2015 Nordic College of Caring Science.

The shouted voice: A pilot study of laryngeal physiology under extreme aerodynamic pressure.

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Lagier, Aude; Legou, Thierry; Galant, Camille; Amy de La Bretèque, Benoit; Meynadier, Yohann; Giovanni, Antoine

2017-12-01

The objective was to study the behavior of the larynx during shouted voice production, when the larynx is exposed to extremely high subglottic pressure. The study involved electroglottographic, acoustic, and aerodynamic analyses of shouts produced at maximum effort by three male participants. Under a normal speaking voice, the voice sound pressure level (SPL) is proportional to the subglottic pressure. However, when the subglottic pressure reached high levels, the voice SPL reached a maximum value and then decreased as subglottic pressure increased further. Furthermore, the electroglottographic signal sometimes lost its periodicity during the shout, suggesting irregular vocal fold vibration.

The voice of emotion across species: how do human listeners recognize animals' affective states?

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Marina Scheumann

Full Text Available Voice-induced cross-taxa emotional recognition is the ability to understand the emotional state of another species based on its voice. In the past, induced affective states, experience-dependent higher cognitive processes or cross-taxa universal acoustic coding and processing mechanisms have been discussed to underlie this ability in humans. The present study sets out to distinguish the influence of familiarity and phylogeny on voice-induced cross-taxa emotional perception in humans. For the first time, two perspectives are taken into account: the self- (i.e. emotional valence induced in the listener versus the others-perspective (i.e. correct recognition of the emotional valence of the recording context. Twenty-eight male participants listened to 192 vocalizations of four different species (human infant, dog, chimpanzee and tree shrew. Stimuli were recorded either in an agonistic (negative emotional valence or affiliative (positive emotional valence context. Participants rated the emotional valence of the stimuli adopting self- and others-perspective by using a 5-point version of the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM. Familiarity was assessed based on subjective rating, objective labelling of the respective stimuli and interaction time with the respective species. Participants reliably recognized the emotional valence of human voices, whereas the results for animal voices were mixed. The correct classification of animal voices depended on the listener's familiarity with the species and the call type/recording context, whereas there was less influence of induced emotional states and phylogeny. Our results provide first evidence that explicit voice-induced cross-taxa emotional recognition in humans is shaped more by experience-dependent cognitive mechanisms than by induced affective states or cross-taxa universal acoustic coding and processing mechanisms.

Empowerment Evaluation: A Form of Self-Evaluation.

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Fetterman, David M.

Empowerment evaluation is an innovative approach that uses evaluation concepts and techniques to foster improvement and self-determination. Empowerment evaluation employs qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Although it can be applied to individuals and organizations, the usual focus is on programs. The value orientation of empowerment…

A model for treating voice disorders in school-age children within a video gaming environment.

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King, Suzanne N; Davis, Larry; Lehman, Jeffrey J; Ruddy, Bari Hoffman

2012-09-01

Clinicians use a variety of approaches to motivate children with hyperfunctional voice disorders to comply with voice therapy in a therapeutic session and improve the motivation of children to practice home-based exercises. Utilization of current entertainment technology in such approaches may improve participation and motivation in voice therapy. The purpose of this study is to test the feasibility of using an entertainment video game as a therapy device. Prospective cohort and case-control study. Three levels of game testing were conducted to an existing entertainment video game for use as a voice therapy protocol. The game was tested by two computer programmers and five normal participants. The third level of testing was a case study with a child diagnosed with a hyperfunctional voice disorder. Modifications to the game were made after each feasibility test. Errors with the video game performance were modified, including the addition of a time stamp directory and game controller. Resonance voice exercises were modified to accommodate the gaming environment and unique competitive situation, including speech rate, acoustic parameters, game speed, and point allocations. The development of video games for voice therapeutic purposes attempt to replicate the high levels of engagement and motivation attained with entertainment video games, stimulating a more productive means of learning while doing. This case study found that a purely entertainment video game can be implemented as a voice therapeutic protocol based on information obtained from the case study. Copyright © 2012 The Voice Foundation. All rights reserved.

The Effect of Empowerment and Educational Programs on the Quality of Life in Iranian Women with HIV.

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Moghadam, Zahra Behboodi; Rezaei, Elham; Sharifi, Bahareh; Nejat, Saharnaz; Saeieh, Sara Esmaelzadeh; Khiaban, Maryam Ordibeheshti

2018-01-01

AIDS affects physical, mental, social, and psychological health status. One of the goals of Health for All in the 21st century is to improve the quality of life. This study is a randomized clinical trial conducted on 120 HIV-positive women. Women were administered assessment questionnaires to be completed during the structured interview. After sample collection, participants were divided randomly into 3 groups by using the table of random numbers, then, respectively, received educational intervention, empowerment program, and routine procedures offered by the center and were followed by refilling the questionnaires 12 weeks after intervention. Depending on the type of data, chi-square, analysis of variance, and paired t test were used, and SPSS version 16 was used for data analysis. The finding showed that knowledge increased after intervention in educational ( P = .02) and empowerment groups ( P = .006); also empowerment group indicated significant difference in psychological ( P = .006) and spiritual ( P = .001) domains and their total quality of life ( P = .004). According to this study, exposing HIV-positive women to empowerment education is effective in improving their quality of life.

Voice Habits and Behaviors: Voice Care Among Flamenco Singers.

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Garzón García, Marina; Muñoz López, Juana; Y Mendoza Lara, Elvira

2017-03-01

The purpose of this study is to analyze the vocal behavior of flamenco singers, as compared with classical music singers, to establish a differential vocal profile of voice habits and behaviors in flamenco music. Bibliographic review was conducted, and the Singer's Vocal Habits Questionnaire, an experimental tool designed by the authors to gather data regarding hygiene behavior, drinking and smoking habits, type of practice, voice care, and symptomatology perceived in both the singing and the speaking voice, was administered. We interviewed 94 singers, divided into two groups: the flamenco experimental group (FEG, n = 48) and the classical control group (CCG, n = 46). Frequency analysis, a Likert scale, and discriminant and exploratory factor analysis were used to obtain a differential profile for each group. The FEG scored higher than the CCG in speaking voice symptomatology. The FEG scored significantly higher than the CCG in use of "inadequate vocal technique" when singing. Regarding voice habits, the FEG scored higher in "lack of practice and warm-up" and "environmental habits." A total of 92.6% of the subjects classified themselves correctly in each group. The Singer's Vocal Habits Questionnaire has proven effective in differentiating flamenco and classical singers. Flamenco singers are exposed to numerous vocal risk factors that make them more prone to vocal fatigue, mucosa dehydration, phonotrauma, and muscle stiffness than classical singers. Further research is needed in voice training in flamenco music, as a means to strengthen the voice and enable it to meet the requirements of this musical genre. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

GENDER EMPOWERMENT INDICATORS: BETTER MANAGEMENT OF RESOURCES TO OPTIMIZE RESULTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristina Lanteri

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract.As a cultural anthropologist I strongly believe in the value of applied anthropology especially when it comes to international cooperation and development. Thanks to a methodology principally based on participant observation I found that anthropologists benefit from a deep understanding of the social dynamics within a group.  In this working paper I discuss my work for AIDA, a Spanish NGO, in Dhaka. Several years ago, I was called to collaborate with this organization in order to set ‘gender empowerment indicators’ for their projects. The activities, approved and financed by AIDA, were implemented by Tarango, a local NGO. The main goal of AIDA was to improve the conditions of women in specific urban and rural areas of Bangladesh.  Women are seen by the international community as one of the major driving forces in the development of a country. Gender equality and the empowerment of women have been defined by The Millennium Development Goals Report as ‘preconditions for overcoming poverty, hunger and disease’ (UN 2010, p.4. What I have found extremely interesting while working at Tarango was the strict relationship between economic and gender empowerment, social capital and creativity. I found that being aware of the positive externalities of this relationship can lead to a more efficiently organized production, economic independence and most importantly a stronger sense of identity.

Sound induced activity in voice sensitive cortex predicts voice memory ability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rebecca eWatson

2012-04-01

Full Text Available The ‘temporal voice areas’ (TVAs (Belin et al., 2000 of the human brain show greater neuronal activity in response to human voices than to other categories of nonvocal sounds. However, a direct link between TVA activity and voice perceptionbehaviour has not yet been established. Here we show that a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI measure of activity in the TVAs predicts individual performance at a separately administered voice memory test. This relation holds whengeneral sound memory ability is taken into account. These findings provide the first evidence that the TVAs are specifically involved in voice cognition.

Integrating cues of social interest and voice pitch in men's preferences for women's voices.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Benedict C; Feinberg, David R; Debruine, Lisa M; Little, Anthony C; Vukovic, Jovana

2008-04-23

Most previous studies of vocal attractiveness have focused on preferences for physical characteristics of voices such as pitch. Here we examine the content of vocalizations in interaction with such physical traits, finding that vocal cues of social interest modulate the strength of men's preferences for raised pitch in women's voices. Men showed stronger preferences for raised pitch when judging the voices of women who appeared interested in the listener than when judging the voices of women who appeared relatively disinterested in the listener. These findings show that voice preferences are not determined solely by physical properties of voices and that men integrate information about voice pitch and the degree of social interest expressed by women when forming voice preferences. Women's preferences for raised pitch in women's voices were not modulated by cues of social interest, suggesting that the integration of cues of social interest and voice pitch when men judge the attractiveness of women's voices may reflect adaptations that promote efficient allocation of men's mating effort.

Voice Therapy Practices and Techniques: A Survey of Voice Clinicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Mueller, Peter B.; Larson, George W.

1992-01-01

Eighty-three voice disorder therapists' ratings of statements regarding voice therapy practices indicated that vocal nodules are the most frequent disorder treated; vocal abuse and hard glottal attack elimination, counseling, and relaxation were preferred treatment approaches; and voice therapy is more effective with adults than with children.…

Youth empowerment solutions for violence prevention.

Science.gov (United States)

Reischl, Thomas M; Zimmerman, Marc A; Morrel-Samuels, Susan; Franzen, Susan P; Faulk, Monique; Eisman, Andria B; Roberts, Everett

2011-12-01

The limited success of youth violence prevention interventions suggests that effective prevention needs to address causes at multiple levels of analysis and empower youth in developing and implementing prevention programs. In this article, we review published studies of youth violence prevention efforts that engage youth in developing or implementing violence prevention activities. The reviewed studies suggest the promise of youth empowerment strategies and the need for systematic outcome studies of empowerment programs. After reviewing empowerment theory applied to youth violence prevention programs, we present a case study of the Youth Empowerment Solutions (YES) for Peaceful Communities program. YES engages middle-school youth in an after-school and summer program that includes a culturally tailored character development curriculum and empowers the youth to plan and implement community improvement projects with assistance from adult neighborhood advocates. The case study focuses on outcome evaluation results and presents evidence of the YES program effects on community-level outcomes (eg, property improvements, violent crime incidents) and on individual-level outcomes (eg, conflict avoidance, victimization). The literature review and the case study suggest the promise of engaging and empowering youth to plan and implement youth violence prevention programs.

Survivor-Defined Practice in Domestic Violence Work: Measure Development and Preliminary Evidence of Link to Empowerment.

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Goodman, Lisa A; Thomas, Kristie; Cattaneo, Lauren Bennett; Heimel, Deborah; Woulfe, Julie; Chong, Siu Kwan

2016-01-01

Survivor-defined practice, characterized by an emphasis on client choice, partnership, and sensitivity to the unique needs, contexts, and coping strategies of individual survivors, is an aspirational goal of the domestic violence (DV) movement, assumed to be a key contributor to empowerment and other positive outcomes among survivors. Despite its central role in DV program philosophy, training, and practice, however, our ability to assess its presence and its presumed link to well-being has been hampered by the absence of a way to measure it from survivors' perspectives. As part of a larger university-community collaboration, this study had two aims: (a) to develop a measure of survivor-defined practice from the perspective of participants, and (b) to assess its relationship to safety-related empowerment after controlling for other contributors to survivor well-being (e.g., financial stability and social support). Results supported the reliability and validity of the Survivor-Defined Practice Scale (SDPS), a nine-item measure that assesses participants' perception of the degree to which their advocates help them achieve goals they set for themselves, facilitate a spirit of partnership, and show sensitivity to their individual needs and styles. The items combined to form one factor indicating that the three theoretical aspects of survivor-defined practice may be different manifestations of one underlying construct. Results also support the hypothesized link between survivor-defined practice and safety-related empowerment. The SDPS offers DV programs a mechanism for process evaluation that is rigorous and rooted in the feminist empowerment philosophy that so many programs espouse. © The Author(s) 2014.

Institutional Capacity Building for Rural Women's Empowerment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rooij, de S.J.G.

2005-01-01

Basically, women¿s empowerment is the process (and its outcomes) in which women ¿ individually and collectively- become active, knowledgeable and goal-oriented actors who take and/ or support initiatives to overcoming gender inequalities. Hence, women¿s empowerment refers to a strategy to achieve

Digital Politics: Mobilization, Engagement, and Participation

OpenAIRE

Koc-Michalska, K.; Lilleker, Darren

2017-01-01

The article provides insights into the driving forces that underpin new forms of political participation. Digital technologies offer opportunities for engaging in a wide range of civicallyoriented activities, each of which can contribute to deeper democratic engagement. Conventional acts of political participation are argued to be driven primarily by intrinsic motivations relating to self-efficacy and empowerment with participants feeling they can have influence over decision makers. Little r...

Effectiveness of a Voice Training Program for Student Teachers on Vocal Health.

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Richter, Bernhard; Nusseck, Manfred; Spahn, Claudia; Echternach, Matthias

2016-07-01

The effectiveness of a preventive training program on vocal health for German student teachers was investigated on specific vocal parameters. The voice quality as described by the Dysphonia Severity Index of 204 student teachers (training group: n = 123; control group: n = 81) was measured at the beginning and at the end of the student teachers training period (duration 1.5 years). Additionally, for investigating the voice-carrying capacity, a vocal loading test (VLT) was performed. Finally, participants had to provide a subjective judgment of a possible Voice Handicap Index. The training program improved the voice quality of the trained group compared with that of the control group, whose voice quality declined. The trained group was also able to better sustain their voice quality across the VLT than the control group. Both groups, however, reported a similar increase in subjective vocal strain. The presented training program clearly showed a positive impact on the voice quality and the vocal capacity. The results maintain the importance of such a training program to be integrated in the education and occupational routine of teachers. Copyright © 2016 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Facilitating empowerment in employees with chronic disease: qualitative analysis of the process of change.

Science.gov (United States)

Varekamp, Inge; Heutink, Annelies; Landman, Selma; Koning, Cees E M; de Vries, Gabe; van Dijk, Frank J H

2009-12-01

In the field of healthcare, empowering patients who have a chronic disease is defined as increasing their knowledge and skills, in order to enable them to define their treatment goals and take personal responsibility for their medical treatment. Our goal was to explore the nature of empowerment for employees who have a chronic disease and who experience work-related problems. We used an explorative qualitative approach to document, from a professional perspective, the experiences of patients who participated in an empowerment training program. The researcher and the three instructors identified several themes which appeared to be important to many participants. These themes were fine-tuned and illustrated using brief case histories. We identified seven themes and characterized them in terms of employee tasks. These included: (1) developing a realistic understanding of one's abilities, (2) standing up for oneself in a self-confident way, (3) maintaining social relations based on mutual understanding with supervisors and colleagues, (4) collecting and assimilating knowledge of one's options, rights and duties, (5) consulting others and negotiating with regard to work accommodations, (6) planning one's job so as to provide personal satisfaction, and (7) maintaining a social life outside work. Not every employee is faced with all of these tasks, but most have to deal with several. Empowerment presupposes that employees with a chronic disease can act to solve problems at the workplace. The experiences during a comprehensive empowerment training illustrate that a process of reflection on personal emotions and a cognitive process of exploration and identification of bottlenecks at work may precede these actions. Our primary contribution is the aforementioned list of seven common tasks that many workers have to perform. Disseminating the list can support employees who have a chronic disease and may also be useful for their managers, HRM staff, occupational health and other

Empowerment in the Treatment of Diabetes and Obesity.

Science.gov (United States)

Łuczyński, Włodzimierz; Głowińska-Olszewska, Barbara; Bossowski, Artur

2016-01-01

As the available therapies for diabetes and obesity are not effective enough, diabetologists and educators search for new methods to collaborate with patients in order to support their health behaviors. The aim of this review is to discuss perspectives for the development of new empowerment-type therapies in the treatment of diabetes/obesity. Empowerment is a process whereby patients gain the necessary knowledge to influence their own behavior to improve the quality of their lives. It is carried out in five stages: (1) identify the problem, (2) explain the feelings and meanings, (3) build a plan, (4) act, and (5) experience and assess the execution. Although many years have passed since the advent and popularization of the concept of empowerment, the area remains controversial, mainly with regard to the methodology of therapy. Some previous studies have confirmed the positive effect of empowerment on body weight, metabolic control, and quality of life of patients with type 2 diabetes; however, few studies have been conducted in patients with type 1 diabetes. There is still a need to confirm the effectiveness of empowerment in accordance with Evidence Based Medicine by performing long-term observational studies in a large group of patients. In future, empowerment may become part of the standard of care for patients with diabetes and/or obesity.

Variation in stop consonant voicing in two regional varieties of American English

Science.gov (United States)

Jacewicz, Ewa; Fox, Robert Allen; Lyle, Samantha

2010-01-01

This study is an acoustic investigation of the nature and extent of consonant voicing of the stop /b/ in two dialectal varieties of American English spoken in south-central Wisconsin and western North Carolina. The stop /b/ occurred at the juncture of two words such as small bids, in a position between two voiced sonorants, i.e. the liquid /l/ and a vowel. Twenty women participated, ten representing the Wisconsin and ten the North Carolina variety, respectively. Significant dialectal differences were found in the voicing patterns. The Wisconsin stop closures were usually not fully voiced and terminated in a complete silence followed by a closure release whereas North Carolina speakers produced mostly fully voiced closures. Further dialectal differences included the proportion of closure voicing as a function of word emphasis. For Wisconsin speakers, the proportion of closure voicing was smallest when the word was emphasized and it was greatest in non-emphatic positions. For North Carolina speakers, the degree of word emphasis did not have an effect on the proportion of closure voicing. The results suggest different mechanisms by which closure voicing is maintained in these two dialects, pointing to active articulatory maneuvers in North Carolina speakers and passive in Wisconsin speakers. PMID:20198112

Getting to social action: the Youth Empowerment Strategies (YES!) project.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Nance; Minkler, Meredith; Dasho, Stefan; Wallerstein, Nina; Martin, Anna C

2008-10-01

This article describes the social action component of the Youth Empowerment Strategies (YES!) project funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through its community-based prevention research (CBPR) initiative. YES! is designed to promote problem-solving skills, social action, and civic participation among underserved elementary and middle school youth. The after-school program focuses on identifying and building youths' capacities and strengths as a means of ultimately decreasing rates of alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use and other risky behaviors. The article discusses the conceptual models of risk and intervention and factors contributing to successful social action work, including group dynamics, intragroup leadership, facilitator skills, and school-community contexts. Attention is focused on how the nature of the projects themselves played a key role in determining the likelihood of experiencing success. Implications and recommendations for other youth-focused empowerment education projects are discussed, including the effective use of Photovoice in such projects.

South African managers' perceptions of black economic empowerment

African Journals Online (AJOL)

8Key words: transformation, black economic empowerment (BEE), broad-based black economic empowerment .... mclviiCode series reference ... range of available literature from articles and books as well as newspaper clippings was studied ...

Women's empowerment in Iran: a review based on the related legislations.

Science.gov (United States)

Janghorban, Roksana; Taghipour, Ali; Latifnejad Roudsari, Robab; Abbasi, Mahmoud

2014-04-20

Women's empowerment can be defined as a change in the circumstances of a woman's life, which enables her to raise her capacity to manage more enriched and rewarding life. Improvement in women's empowerment is a salient issue to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. National laws are influential factors in promoting women's empowerment. Lack of awareness of legal and constitutional provisions and failure to recognize it, is a factor that hinders the process of empowerment. This paper provides a review based on Iranian legislations which have considered various aspects of women's empowerment. Although this work has specifically dealt with women's needs, it encompasses a right-based approach to women's empowerment suggested by the United Nations Fund for Population Activities. However, there is still a great need for further inquiries in the area of legislations concerning women's empowerment around the world in general and Iran in particular.

Psychophysical Boundary for Categorization of Voiced-Voiceless Stop Consonants in Native Japanese Speakers

Science.gov (United States)

Tamura, Shunsuke; Ito, Kazuhito; Hirose, Nobuyuki; Mori, Shuji

2018-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychophysical boundary used for categorization of voiced-voiceless stop consonants in native Japanese speakers. Method: Twelve native Japanese speakers participated in the experiment. The stimuli were synthetic stop consonant-vowel stimuli varying in voice onset time (VOT) with…

Students' Perceived Understanding Mediates the Effects of Teacher Clarity and Nonverbal Immediacy on Learner Empowerment

Science.gov (United States)

Finn, Amber N.; Schrodt, Paul

2012-01-01

This study examined students' perceived understanding as a mediator of the relationship between student perceptions of teacher clarity, nonverbal immediacy cues, and learner empowerment (i.e., meaningfulness, competence, and impact). Participants included 261 undergraduate students who completed survey instruments. Results of structural equation…

Syllogisms delivered in an angry voice lead to improved performance and engagement of a different neural system compared to neutral voice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kathleen Walton Smith

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Despite the fact that most real-world reasoning occurs in some emotional context, very little is known about the underlying behavioral and neural implications of such context. To further understand the role of emotional context in logical reasoning we scanned 15 participants with fMRI while they engaged in logical reasoning about neutral syllogisms presented through the auditory channel in a sad, angry, or neutral tone of voice. Exposure to angry voice led to improved reasoning performance compared to exposure to sad and neutral voice. A likely explanation for this effect is that exposure to expressions of anger increases selective attention toward the relevant features of target stimuli, in this case the reasoning task. Supporting this interpretation, reasoning in the context of angry voice was accompanied by activation in the superior frontal gyrus—a region known to be associated with selective attention. Our findings contribute to a greater understanding of the neural processes that underlie reasoning in an emotional context by demonstrating that two emotional contexts, despite being of the same (negative valence, have different effects on reasoning.

Action research and empowerment in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, John; Bilfeldt, Annette; Jørgensen, Michael Søgaard

2014-01-01

Public Management 2. A marginalized urban area, where the objective was to develop a community centre which could strengthen social capital and facilitate empowerment of both residents and welfare workers 3. A local project about sustainable housing, where the objective was to design and build houses...... to strengthen these actors’ capacity to actively influence the development of society and contribute to better social and environmental conditions. The first part of the chapter introduces the core concepts of action research and empowerment with references to international contributions. The next part concerns...... the larger societal context and the concrete methodologies applied in three projects, and the successes, failures and results from these three cases. The last concluding part compares and reflects upon similarities and differences in the methods and empowerment mechanisms across the different contexts...

An empowerment intervention for Indigenous communities: an outcome assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Kinchin, Irina; Jacups, Susan; Tsey, Komla; Lines, Katrina

2015-08-21

Empowerment programs have been shown to contribute to increased empowerment of individuals and build capacity within the community or workplace. To-date, the impact of empowerment programs has yet to be quantified in the published literature in this field. This study assessed the Indigenous-developed Family Wellbeing (FWB) program as an empowerment intervention for a child safety workforce in remote Indigenous communities by measuring effect sizes. The study also assessed the value of measurement tools for future impact evaluations. A three-day FWB workshop designed to promote empowerment and workplace engagement among child protection staff was held across five remote north Queensland Indigenous communities. The FWB assessment tool comprised a set of validated surveys including the Growth and Empowerment Measure (GEM), Australian Unity Wellbeing Index, Kessler psychological distress scale (K10) and Workforce engagement survey. The assessment was conducted pre-intervention and three months post-intervention. The analysis of pre-and post-surveys revealed that the GEM appeared to be the most tangible measure for detecting positive changes in communication, conflict resolution, decision making and life skill development. The GEM indicated a 17 % positive change compared to 9 % for the Australian Unity Wellbeing Index, 5 % for the workforce engagement survey and less than 1 % for K10. This study extended qualitative research and identified the best measurement tool for detecting the outcomes of empowerment programs. The GEM was found the most sensitive and the most tangible measure that captures improvements in communication, conflict resolution, decision making and life skill development. The GEM and Australian Unity Wellbeing Index could be recommended as routine measures for empowerment programs assessment among similar remote area workforce.

Does organizational justice predict empowerment? Nurses assess their work environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuokkanen, Liisa; Leino-Kilpi, Helena; Katajisto, Jouko; Heponiemi, Tarja; Sinervo, Timo; Elovainio, Marko

2014-09-01

The purpose of the study was to explore how nurses assess their empowerment and clarify organizational justice compared to other work-related factors. In addition, we examined the major variables pertinent to empowerment. Cross-sectional survey data were used. A total of 2,152 nurses returned the completed questionnaire. The instruments consisted of nurse empowerment, organizational justice, job control, and possibilities for developing work. The data analysis was based on descriptive statistics and further statistical tests. Organizational justice and empowerment had a clear correlation. Job control, possibilities for developing work and organizational justice were statistically significant predictors of nurse empowerment. Organizational justice and the possibility to use one's individual skills at work are significant factors in staff activity and its development in nursing. They increase the level of empowerment and commitment as well as motivation to work. The results of this study confirm that nurses regard organizational justice as highly important. We can facilitate both work-related empowerment and organizational justice by creating and maintaining a culture of fairness and justice. Employees should be heard and involved more in the planning and decision making of work. © 2014 Sigma Theta Tau International.

School Empowerment Surges Ahead in 2007-2008

Science.gov (United States)

Snell, Lisa

2008-01-01

School empowerment and weighted student formula programs continue to grow across the United States. This article explores the key components of school empowerment programs and describes several existing programs from Baltimore to San Francisco. The article examines some of the anecdotal outcomes for these types of public school choice programs.…

Voice following radiotherapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stoicheff, M.L.

1975-01-01

This study was undertaken to provide information on the voice of patients following radiotherapy for glottic cancer. Part I presents findings from questionnaires returned by 227 of 235 patients successfully irradiated for glottic cancer from 1960 through 1971. Part II presents preliminary findings on the speaking fundamental frequencies of 22 irradiated patients. Normal to near-normal voice was reported by 83 percent of the 227 patients; however, 80 percent did indicate persisting vocal difficulties such as fatiguing of voice with much usage, inability to sing, reduced loudness, hoarse voice quality and inability to shout. Amount of talking during treatments appeared to affect length of time for voice to recover following treatments in those cases where it took from nine to 26 weeks; also, with increasing years since treatment, patients rated their voices more favorably. Smoking habits following treatments improved significantly with only 27 percent smoking heavily as compared with 65 percent prior to radiation therapy. No correlation was found between smoking (during or after treatments) and vocal ratings or between smoking and length of time for voice to recover. There was no relationship found between reported vocal ratings and stage of the disease

Voices Not Heard: Voice-Use Profiles of Elementary Music Teachers, the Effects of Voice Amplification on Vocal Load, and Perceptions of Issues Surrounding Voice Use

Science.gov (United States)

Morrow, Sharon L.

2009-01-01

Teachers represent the largest group of occupational voice users and have voice-related problems at a rate of over twice that found in the general population. Among teachers, music teachers are roughly four times more likely than classroom teachers to develop voice-related problems. Although it has been established that music teachers use their…

Transformational Leadership and Its Relationship to Adult 4-H Volunteers' Sense of Empowerment in Youth Development Settings

Science.gov (United States)

Rose, Pamela

2010-01-01

This study examined the relationship of adult 4-H volunteers' perceived leadership styles of 4-H Youth Development Educators to the adult 4-H volunteer sense of empowerment. There were 498 Oregon adult 4-H volunteers randomly selected to participate. Participants rated the leadership style of their 4-H Youth Development Educator (YDE) using Bass…

Dimensionality in voice quality.

Science.gov (United States)

Bele, Irene Velsvik

2007-05-01

This study concerns speaking voice quality in a group of male teachers (n = 35) and male actors (n = 36), as the purpose was to investigate normal and supranormal voices. The goal was the development of a method of valid perceptual evaluation for normal to supranormal and resonant voices. The voices (text reading at two loudness levels) had been evaluated by 10 listeners, for 15 vocal characteristics using VA scales. In this investigation, the results of an exploratory factor analysis of the vocal characteristics used in this method are presented, reflecting four dimensions of major importance for normal and supranormal voices. Special emphasis is placed on the effects on voice quality of a change in the loudness variable, as two loudness levels are studied. Furthermore, the vocal characteristics Sonority and Ringing voice quality are paid special attention, as the essence of the term "resonant voice" was a basic issue throughout a doctoral dissertation where this study was included.

[Assessment of voice acoustic parameters in female teachers with diagnosed occupational voice disorders].

Science.gov (United States)

Niebudek-Bogusz, Ewa; Fiszer, Marta; Sliwińska-Kowalska, Mariola

2005-01-01

Laryngovideostroboscopy is the method most frequently used in the assessment of voice disorders. However, the employment of quantitative methods, such as voice acoustic analysis, is essential for evaluating the effectiveness of prophylactic and therapeutic activities as well as for objective medical certification of larynx pathologies. The aim of this study was to examine voice acoustic parameters in female teachers with occupational voice diseases. Acoustic analysis (IRIS software) was performed in 66 female teachers, including 35 teachers with occupational voice diseases and 31 with functional dysphonia. The teachers with occupational voice diseases presented the lower average fundamental frequency (193 Hz) compared to the group with functional dysphonia (209 Hz) and to the normative value (236 Hz), whereas other acoustic parameters did not differ significantly in both groups. Voice acoustic analysis, when applied separately from vocal loading, cannot be used as a testing method to verify the diagnosis of occupational voice disorders.

The Influence of E-Learning on Individual and Collective Empowerment in the Public Sector: An Empirical Study of Korean Government Employees

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mann Hyung Hur

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Our study explores the influence of e-learning on individual and collective empowerment by using data collected from e-learning class participants of Korea’s Cyber-Education Center. For the survey, a questionnaire was sent to each of the 41 central ministries’ education and training officers (ETO via email. The ETOs distributed the questionnaire to individuals in their ministries who have taken e-learning classes offered by the Cyber-Education Center during the first half of 2012. Out of more than 1,000 e-learning class attendees, 161 responded to the questionnaire survey. A set of multiple regression models was employed to explore significant predictors of government employees’ individual and collective empowerment in e-learning environments. Using existing literature on empowerment theories, a set of 16 questions was developed. A factor analysis was conducted to condense 16 individual variables into several large categories. Four factors including meaning, competence, self-determination, and collective empowerment were extracted from the 16 questions. The first three equations stood for individual empowerment and the last one for collective empowerment. Each of the four factors was utilized as a dependent variable in the multiple regression analysis. Each regression model uncovered its own set of variables that played a role in empowerment. The predictor variables of the meaning dimension were more widely split than those of the competence dimension or the self-determination dimension and collective empowerment. Only one independent variable—preference of e-learning class to offline class—was associated with all four dependent variables. However, modalities of e-learning activity, which were expected to be a significant predictor of empowerment, were not associated with any of the four dependent variables. In addition, lecture types of the e-learning class were also expected to be a significant predictor of empowerment but were only

Microfinance Impact on Socio-Economic Empowerment: A special Reference to Andhra Pradesh

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V Vachya L

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The present study seeks to examine the role of microfinance and its impact on economic and social empowerment of women. There are great debates going on whether forming groups, membership for women, providing credit and imparting some business skills would change the social equations in the society or whether provision of credit may lead to pervasively entrenched political and economic relations among the genders. The proponents argue that providing credit, targeting women can prove to be a suitable mechanism in ameliorating poor women’s socio-economic conditions and thereby can alter the relations between gender and class. Undoubtedly, there have been significant advances in women empowerment in recent years and the concept and practice of SHG-based microfinance has now developed deep roots in many parts of the country. Impact assessment being rather limited so far, it is hard to measure and quantify the effect the Indian microfinance experience so far had on the poverty situation in rural India. The present study seeks to examine the process of women empowerment and changes in the economic status of SHG members in particular and rural women in general. For this study, multi-stage stratified proportionate random sampling technique was adopted for selecting the representative districts, mandals/talukas, villages and households. The primary data was collected from six villages in the three regions (Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema and Telangana of Andhra Pradesh. Tabular and statistical analyses were applied for examining the data. Empirically acclaimed logistic regression model has been employed for analyzing significant impact of plausible socio-economic factors on women empowerment. The study found that the socio-economic indicators have changed. It also emerged that there has been an increase in women participation in the household decision making process. The study has suggested that the government should prepare suitable plans and programmes

Testing the tools of development: credit programmes, loan involvement, and women's empowerment.

Science.gov (United States)

Ackerly, B A

1995-07-01

This study finds that income generation programs should not focus on women's labor as a means of empowerment. Empowerment should be directed to women's direct involvement in selling and accounting in the loan activity and in the techniques of lending agencies that promote empowerment. Borrowers are empowered through market activities and nonmarket strategies such as changing the institutional environment. Local women can be hired as group promoters. When payments are made to a collection post, local women promoters can be protected and travel to remote areas without fear for security. It is argued that goals are reached successfully, when tasks are clearly defined. Empowerment in this study means knowledge of accounting for the borrower's loan activity. It is argued that organizations that choose to make women's empowerment a goal can use this factor to measure program impact. Data for this study are obtained from the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), Grameen Bank (GB), and Save the Children, Bangladesh Field Office (SCF). The general model indicates that the borrower will be empowered in the process of taking out a loan and investing it in an activity. The likelihood that the credit process will lead to empowerment, given the multiple lending options, is tested in a probit model. Explanatory variables include location, borrower's direct contribution of labor to all or part of the activity, a borrower's direct involvement in buying supplies or selling or accounting for the loan, the lending organization (BRAC, GB, or SCF), loan amount, number of years of borrowing, and borrower position as a center or group chair. The results are based on the 826 loans of the 613 female borrowers. Significant features that contributed to borrower's knowledge included, in the order of significance, participation in accounting, selling, and labor. The key factor appeared to be market access. The impact of organization and involvement was maximized among individuals who

Empowerment through Sex Education? Rethinking Paradoxical Policies

Science.gov (United States)

Naezer, Marijke; Rommes, Els; Jansen, Willy

2017-01-01

Youth empowerment is the main goal of sex education according to Dutch Government and NGO policies. Academics from different disciplines have argued, however, that the ideal of empowerment through education is problematic, because of the unequal power relations implicated in educational practices. Building on one-and-a-half years of online and…

Muscular tension and body posture in relation to voice handicap and voice quality in teachers with persistent voice complaints.

Science.gov (United States)

Kooijman, P G C; de Jong, F I C R S; Oudes, M J; Huinck, W; van Acht, H; Graamans, K

2005-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between extrinsic laryngeal muscular hypertonicity and deviant body posture on the one hand and voice handicap and voice quality on the other hand in teachers with persistent voice complaints and a history of voice-related absenteeism. The study group consisted of 25 female teachers. A voice therapist assessed extrinsic laryngeal muscular tension and a physical therapist assessed body posture. The assessed parameters were clustered in categories. The parameters in the different categories represent the same function. Further a tension/posture index was created, which is the summation of the different parameters. The different parameters and the index were related to the Voice Handicap Index (VHI) and the Dysphonia Severity Index (DSI). The scores of the VHI and the individual parameters differ significantly except for the posterior weight bearing and tension of the sternocleidomastoid muscle. There was also a significant difference between the individual parameters and the DSI, except for tension of the cricothyroid muscle and posterior weight bearing. The score of the tension/posture index correlates significantly with both the VHI and the DSI. In a linear regression analysis, the combination of hypertonicity of the sternocleidomastoid, the geniohyoid muscles and posterior weight bearing is the most important predictor for a high voice handicap. The combination of hypertonicity of the geniohyoid muscle, posterior weight bearing, high position of the hyoid bone, hypertonicity of the cricothyroid muscle and anteroposition of the head is the most important predictor for a low DSI score. The results of this study show the higher the score of the index, the higher the score of the voice handicap and the worse the voice quality is. Moreover, the results are indicative for the importance of assessment of muscular tension and body posture in the diagnosis of voice disorders.

Voice deviation, dysphonia risk screening and quality of life in individuals with various laryngeal diagnoses

Science.gov (United States)

Nemr, Katia; Cota, Ariane; Tsuji, Domingos; Simões-Zenari, Marcia

2018-01-01

OBJECTIVES: To characterize the voice quality of individuals with dysphonia and to investigate possible correlations between the degree of voice deviation (D) and scores on the Dysphonia Risk Screening Protocol-General (DRSP), the Voice-Related Quality of Life (V-RQOL) measure and the Voice Handicap Index, short version (VHI-10). METHODS: The sample included 200 individuals with dysphonia. Following laryngoscopy, the participants completed the DRSP, the V-RQOL measure, and the VHI-10; subsequently, voice samples were recorded for auditory-perceptual and acoustic analyses. The correlation between the score for each questionnaire and the overall degree of vocal deviation was analyzed, as was the correlation among the scores for the three questionnaires. RESULTS: Most of the participants (62%) were female, and the mean age of the sample was 49 years. The most common laryngeal diagnosis was organic dysphonia (79.5%). The mean D was 59.54, and the predominance of roughness had a mean of 54.74. All the participants exhibited at least one abnormal acoustic aspect. The mean questionnaire scores were DRSP, 44.7; V-RQOL, 57.1; and VHI-10, 16. An inverse correlation was found between the V-RQOL score and D; however, a positive correlation was found between both the VHI-10 and DRSP scores and D. CONCLUSION: A predominance of adult women, organic dysphonia, moderate voice deviation, high dysphonia risk, and low to moderate quality of life impact characterized our sample. There were correlations between the scores of each of the three questionnaires and the degree of voice deviation. It should be noted that the DRSP monitored the degree of dysphonia severity, which reinforces its applicability for patients with different laryngeal diagnoses. PMID:29538494

A Randomized, Controlled Trial of Behavioral Voice Therapy for Dysphonia Related to Prematurity of Birth.

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Reynolds, Victoria; Meldrum, Suzanne; Simmer, Karen; Vijayasekaran, Shyan; French, Noel

2017-03-01

Dysphonia is a potential complication of prematurity. Preterm children may sustain iatrogenic laryngeal damage from medical intervention in the neonatal period, and further, adopt compensatory, maladaptive voicing behaviors. This pilot study aimed to evaluate the effects of a voice therapy protocol on voice quality in school-aged, very preterm (VP) children. Twenty-seven VP children with dysphonia were randomized to an immediate intervention group (n = 7) or a delayed-intervention, waiting list control group (n = 14). Following analysis of these data, a secondary analysis was conducted on the pooled intervention data (n = 21). Six participants did not complete the trial. Change to voice quality was measured via pre- and posttreatment assessments using the Consensus Auditory Perceptual Evaluation of Voice. The intervention group did not demonstrate statistically significant improvements in voice quality, whereas this was observed in the control group (P = 0.026). However, when intervention data were pooled including both the immediate and delayed groups following intervention, dysphonia severity was significantly lower (P = 0.026) in the treatment group. Dysphonia in most VP children in this cohort was persistent. These pilot data indicate that some participants experienced acceptable voice outcomes on spontaneous recovery, whereas others demonstrated a response to behavioral intervention. Further research is needed to identify the facilitators of and barriers to intervention success, and to predict those who may experience spontaneous recovery. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. All rights reserved.

Mindfulness of voices, self-compassion, and secure attachment in relation to the experience of hearing voices.

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Dudley, James; Eames, Catrin; Mulligan, John; Fisher, Naomi

2018-03-01

Developing compassion towards oneself has been linked to improvement in many areas of psychological well-being, including psychosis. Furthermore, developing a non-judgemental, accepting way of relating to voices is associated with lower levels of distress for people who hear voices. These factors have also been associated with secure attachment. This study explores associations between the constructs of mindfulness of voices, self-compassion, and distress from hearing voices and how secure attachment style related to each of these variables. Cross-sectional online. One hundred and twenty-eight people (73% female; M age  = 37.5; 87.5% Caucasian) who currently hear voices completed the Self-Compassion Scale, Southampton Mindfulness of Voices Questionnaire, Relationships Questionnaire, and Hamilton Programme for Schizophrenia Voices Questionnaire. Results showed that mindfulness of voices mediated the relationship between self-compassion and severity of voices, and self-compassion mediated the relationship between mindfulness of voices and severity of voices. Self-compassion and mindfulness of voices were significantly positively correlated with each other and negatively correlated with distress and severity of voices. Mindful relation to voices and self-compassion are associated with reduced distress and severity of voices, which supports the proposed potential benefits of mindful relating to voices and self-compassion as therapeutic skills for people experiencing distress by voice hearing. Greater self-compassion and mindfulness of voices were significantly associated with less distress from voices. These findings support theory underlining compassionate mind training. Mindfulness of voices mediated the relationship between self-compassion and distress from voices, indicating a synergistic relationship between the constructs. Although the current findings do not give a direction of causation, consideration is given to the potential impact of mindful and

Hip Hop as Empowerment: Voices in El Alto, Bolivia

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Tarifa, Ariana

2012-01-01

In response to neoliberal policies that have been in place since 1985, Bolivian young people have increasingly used hip hop music as a means of protest and to reclaim social and political participation. Hip hop in Latin America tells the story of the struggles that marginalized people have suffered, and speaks to the effects of international…

[A New Challenge of Working Together: Psychiatry and Heraing Voices].

Science.gov (United States)

Laval, Christian

Recovery model, as the hearing voices movement, promotes the users discourse among the health workers. This interference of users in the expertise considering the meaning of their voices is faced with the vision of advocating health workers, particularly the psychiatrists supporting the psychiatric users movement. On the field, this association seems challenging. On the experimental site in Marseille, professionals through various tensions and practical difficulties tend to reconsider their power / knowledge. This new challenge of working together leads them to adopt both a more humble position towards their clinical expertise and a more ambitious position regarding their participation in the construction of public controversies highlighted by the speaking experience of the hearing voices movement.

Young people and health: towards a new conceptual framework for understanding empowerment.

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Spencer, Grace

2014-01-01

In recent times, empowerment has become the focus of much work with young people amidst increasing concerns about their health. Empowerment is often offered as a 'solution' to such concerns, with the uncritical assumption being made that empowerment unproblematically results in positive health outcomes. While much of the health promotion literature advocates 'empowerment', it often does so without offering a clear conceptualisation of the word itself or indeed addressing the thorny theoretical tensions surrounding the concept's root word of power. In light of this omission, this article offers a more theoretically informed conceptualisation of empowerment and considers the relationship to young people's health. This article outlines a more dynamic and generative conceptualisation of empowerment than hitherto articulated in the literature, informed by Lukes' multidimensional perspective of power. Drawing on findings from an ethnographic study on empowerment and young people's health, this article develops six conceptually distinct forms of empowerment (impositional, dispositional, concessional, oppositional, normative and transformative). Data were collected from 55 young men and women aged 15-16 years through group discussions, individual interviews and observational work in a school and surrounding community settings in England. Crucially, these six new forms of empowerment capture and synthesise individual, structural and ideological elements of power that differentially, and sometimes inconsistently, shape the possibilities for young people's empowerment. Of significance is the way in which these different forms of empowerment intersect to (re)produce relations of power and may offer different possibilities for health promotion.

Digital Media Creates Youth Voices Heard

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeff Sallee

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Oklahoma 4-H clubs and military service centers partnered with the Adobe Youth Voices (AYV program to give youth opportunities to raise their voices through digital media. This program reached out to underrepresented youth and gave them the tools and technology to effectively express themselves. The intent of this project was for 4-H members to create videos to educate, help and raise awareness in their communities of topics that were important to the youth. These experiences help youth gain knowledge towards helping others solve farm, home, and community problems. Participating youth selected issues that were important to them and created a short video, educating others and sharing their convictions on the topics of horse therapy, citizenship, bullying, and distracted driving.

Video-Voice Project (Zambia) | IDRC - International Development ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Video-Voice Project (Zambia). The Zambian health care system has been negatively affected by globalization and faces severe resource constraints. The government has adopted a health reform that emphasizes public participation. This approach requires an informed citizenry, however, at a time when the country is facing ...

An exploration of empowerment from the perspective of Irish nurses and midwives

OpenAIRE

Corbally, Melissa

2004-01-01

Empowerment is a complex and multifaceted construct. It is understood to be a perception of ability that can be influenced by numerous factors. Due to the subjective nature of human perception, there is a potential for empowerment to mean different things to different people. Empowerment theory is also equally diverse. Several research approaches have attempted to measure empowerment. Most of these have assumed its meaning which is problematic given the fact that empowerment is interpreted at...

The relationship between neighborhood empowerment and dental caries experience: a multilevel study in adolescents and adults

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Bianca Marques Santiago

2014-01-01

Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship of contextual social capital (neighborhood empowerment and individual social capital (social support and social network with dental caries experience in adolescents and adults. METHODS: A population-based multilevel study was conducted involving 573 subjects, 15-19 and 35-44 years of age, from 30 census tracts in three cities of Paraíba, Brazil. A two-stage cluster sampling was used considering census tracts and households as sampling units. Caries experience was assessed using the DMFT index (decayed, missing and filled teeth and participants were divided into two groups according to the median of the DMFT index in low and high caries experience. Demographic, socioeconomic, behaviors, use of dental services and social capital measures were collected through interviews. Neighborhood empowerment was obtained from the mean scores of the residents in each census tract. Multilevel multivariate logistic regression was used to test the relationship between neighborhood empowerment and caries experience. RESULTS: High caries experience was inversely associated with neighborhood empowerment (OR = 0.58; 95%CI 0.33 - 0.99. Individual social capital was not associated with caries experience. Other associated factors with caries experience were age (OR = 1.15; 95%CI 1.12 - 1.18 and being a female (OR = 1.72; 95%CI 1.08 - 2.73. CONCLUSION: The association between neighborhood empowerment and caries experience suggests that the perception of features of the place of residence should be taken into account in actions of oral health promotion.

Face the voice

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lønstrup, Ansa

2014-01-01

will be based on a reception aesthetic and phenomenological approach, the latter as presented by Don Ihde in his book Listening and Voice. Phenomenologies of Sound , and my analytical sketches will be related to theoretical statements concerning the understanding of voice and media (Cavarero, Dolar, La......Belle, Neumark). Finally, the article will discuss the specific artistic combination and our auditory experience of mediated human voices and sculpturally projected faces in an art museum context under the general conditions of the societal panophonia of disembodied and mediated voices, as promoted by Steven...

"Voice Forum" The Human Voice as Primary Instrument in Music Therapy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Inge Nygaard; Storm, Sanne

2009-01-01

Aspects will be drawn on the human voice as tool for embodying our psychological and physiological state, and attempting integration of feelings. Presentations and dialogues on different methods and techniques in "Therapy related body-and voice work.", as well as the human voice as a tool for non...

Empowerment and coping strategies in menopause women: a review.

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Yazdkhasti, Mansoureh; Simbar, Masoumeh; Abdi, Fatemeh

2015-03-01

Menopause is described as a period of psychological difficulties that changes the lifestyle of women in multiple ways. Menopausal women require more information about their physical and psychosocial needs. Empowerment during the menopause can contribute to improving the perception of this stage and the importance of self-care. It is essential to increase women's awareness and adaptation to menopause, using empowerment programs. The aim of this study was to review the empowerment and coping strategies in menopause women. In this review, PubMed, EMBASE, ISI, and Iranian databases were scanned for relevant literature. A comprehensive search was performed, using the combinations of the keywords "empowerment, menopause, coping with" to review relevant literature and higher education journals. Most interventions for menopause women have focused on educational intervention, physical activity/exercise, healthy diet, stress management, healthy behaviors, preventing certain diseases and osteoporosis. Health education intervention strategy is one of the alternative strategies for improving women's attitudes and coping with menopause symptoms, identified as severalof the subcategories of health promotion programs. Empowerment of menopausal women will guarantee their health during the last third of their life. It will also help them benefit from their final years of reproductive life. The results of the present study can pave the way for future research about women's health promotion and empowerment.

Empowerment Strategy Through Salak Fruit

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Sucihatiningsih Dian Wisika Prajanti

2015-05-01

Full Text Available This articles aims to understand the practice of empowerment through assistance to salak farmers. The study includes 60 salak fruit farmers which are taken as the samples. Descriptive analysis is used to analyze the obtained data from the study. The research result shows that most respondents have the relative low level of empowerment. The empowerment level from business aspect explain that most of the respondent (73% are never and could not got the financial assistant to develop their business. Likewise, it could be happen in the technological access, most of the respondent (56,7% explain that in the production process the technology that used is base on traditional and hereditary. So, it is depend on labour relieves when the production and harvest process. Furthermore, the research shows that a low level of a capability to access the market information. It could be seen that most of the farmers (38,3% directly selling their product to the consumers and 33,3% sell their product to the broker. The empowerment from non economic aspect could be seen from the low ability of lobbying aspect, like the asking for a relieves from their colleagues at the local government officer (10%, financial institution like cooperation, bank and etc (25%, society figures (32,1%, employees (32,1%, non government institution/ academision (10% and a families (93,3%. To empower the farmers in order to make them sustainable, it is necessary to built a partnership by empowerment strategy. The empowerment strategy that involves industry as the farmers’ partner is carried out to improve the empowerment of the farmers of salak fruits.Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengeksplorasi praktek pemberdayaan melalui pendampingan petani buah salak. Sebanyak 60 orang petani salak diambil sebagai sampel. Analisis deskriptif telah digunakan untuk menganalisis data dalam penelitian ini. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa sebagian besar masyarakat di daerah penelitian mengaku pada

Study of Psychological Empowerment in Hospitals of Qom Province, Iran

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Amir Ashkan Nasiripour

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Background and Objectives: It is necessary to study employees’ empowerment components to realize the empowerment process and enhance the organization's capacity to make empowerment atmosphere. Employee's viewpoints and attitudes affect organizational decision making and also their cooperation, partnership, and job satisfaction. Current research was done to study the empowerment components of the employees of the hospitals of Medical University of Qom in year 2011.Methods: This study was done using descriptive cross-sectional method on 365 employees of the hospitals of Qom University of Medical Sciences. The samples were equally selected from the hospitals using a stratified random method. The research tool was a questionnaire consisting of 15 closed-answer questions plus demographic characteristics. Data analysis was done using descriptive and analytical statistics. Independent t-test and analysis of variance was used to determine the intergroup differences. Results: The amount of the hospital employees’ empowerment components with a mean of 3.89 was in good condition. Also, the employees' attitude toward this category was different. There was a significant difference between men and women's attitude toward job meaningfulness. There was no significant association between psychological empowerment indices and age, academic discipline, education level, and the type of unit or ward's activity with confidence interval of 95% (p>0.05. There was also a statistically significant association between employees' work experience and the component of sense of effectiveness.Conclusion: According to the results of this study, the amount of empowerment components in the employees of hospitals of the Qom University of Medical Sciences was in acceptable level. Therefore, it is suggested that university managers pay more attention to employees' capabilities for assigning more responsibilities to them, and make much effort by their programming to make an

Enhancing the Empowerment of Youth in Foster Care: Supportive Services

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Kaplan, Sandra J.; Skolnik, Louise; Turnbull, Ayme

2009-01-01

This paper reviews the research on youth empowerment in seven child welfare programmatic areas. A lack of studies specifically focused on the empowerment of youth in foster care was found. Conceptual perspectives and existing data, however, suggest that the empowerment of youth in and transitioning out of care is essential and should be overtly…

Lax Vox as a Voice Training Program for Teachers: A Pilot Study.

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Mailänder, Eva; Mühre, Lea; Barsties, Ben

2017-03-01

The objective of this study was to explore the effectiveness of a 3-week training program with the voice therapy "Lax Vox" for teachers. Four healthy female teachers participated as volunteers for the study. Several voice measurements of perception, acoustics, aerodynamics, and self-evaluation were investigated. Furthermore, a survey to rate the applicability of Lax Vox was also part of the study. To assess the treatment effects of the Lax Vox training, an effect size analysis (d unb ) was conducted. After 3 weeks of training, medium and large improvements were found in some parameters of perceptual and acoustic voice quality assessments (d unb >0.50 and d unb >0.80, respectively). Furthermore, medium improvements were revealed in some parameters of self-evaluation (ie, physical and total scale of the Voice Handicap Index) and aerodynamic (ie, maximum phonation time) assessments (all d unb >0.50). Additionally, acoustic measures of vocal function showed an expansion in the upper contour of voice range profiles after training. Particularly, the main improvements in the voice range profile was found in the modal and the beginning of the falsetto voice registers. There was an increase of the intensity levels of about 4.6 dB. No changes were revealed in some acoustic measures of the voice range profile, self-evaluation measurements, and the perception of breathy voice quality (all d unb teachers appears to improve select measures of voice quality, maximum phonation time, vocal function, self-evaluation, and perceived applicability. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Elders Health Empowerment Scale: Spanish adaptation and psychometric analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Serrani Azcurra, Daniel Jorge Luis

2014-01-01

Empowerment refers to patient skills that allow them to become primary decision-makers in control of daily self-management of health problems. As important the concept as it is, particularly for elders with chronic diseases, few available instruments have been validated for use with Spanish speaking people. Translate and adapt the Health Empowerment Scale (HES) for a Spanish-speaking older adults sample and perform its psychometric validation. The HES was adapted based on the Diabetes Empowerment Scale-Short Form. Where "diabetes" was mentioned in the original tool, it was replaced with "health" terms to cover all kinds of conditions that could affect health empowerment. Statistical and Psychometric Analyses were conducted on 648 urban-dwelling seniors. The HES had an acceptable internal consistency with a Cronbach's α of 0.89. The convergent validity was supported by significant Pearson's Coefficient correlations between the HES total and item scores and the General Self Efficacy Scale (r= 0.77), Swedish Rheumatic Disease Empowerment Scale (r= 0.69) and Making Decisions Empowerment Scale (r= 0.70). Construct validity was evaluated using item analysis, half-split test and corrected item to total correlation coefficients; with good internal consistency (α> 0.8). The content validity was supported by Scale and Item Content Validity Index of 0.98 and 1.0, respectively. HES had acceptable face validity and reliability coefficients; which added to its ease administration and users' unbiased comprehension, could set it as a suitable tool in evaluating elder's outpatient empowerment-based medical education programs.

Voice Use Among Music Theory Teachers: A Voice Dosimetry and Self-Assessment Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Schiller, Isabel S; Morsomme, Dominique; Remacle, Angélique

2017-07-25

This study aimed (1) to investigate music theory teachers' professional and extra-professional vocal loading and background noise exposure, (2) to determine the correlation between vocal loading and background noise, and (3) to determine the correlation between vocal loading and self-evaluation data. Using voice dosimetry, 13 music theory teachers were monitored for one workweek. The parameters analyzed were voice sound pressure level (SPL), fundamental frequency (F0), phonation time, vocal loading index (VLI), and noise SPL. Spearman correlation was used to correlate vocal loading parameters (voice SPL, F0, and phonation time) and noise SPL. Each day, the subjects self-assessed their voice using visual analog scales. VLI and self-evaluation data were correlated using Spearman correlation. Vocal loading parameters and noise SPL were significantly higher in the professional than in the extra-professional environment. Voice SPL, phonation time, and female subjects' F0 correlated positively with noise SPL. VLI correlated with self-assessed voice quality, vocal fatigue, and amount of singing and speaking voice produced. Teaching music theory is a profession with high vocal demands. More background noise is associated with increased vocal loading and may indirectly increase the risk for voice disorders. Correlations between VLI and self-assessments suggest that these teachers are well aware of their vocal demands and feel their effect on voice quality and vocal fatigue. Visual analog scales seem to represent a useful tool for subjective vocal loading assessment and associated symptoms in these professional voice users. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Mechanism of Economic Empowerment and Development in Nigeria ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Mechanism of Economic Empowerment and Development in Nigeria: A Discourse. ... AFRREV IJAH: An International Journal of Arts and Humanities ... NEEDS, the concept of economic empowerment, the policy thrusts of NEEDS, the strategies for employment generation, the institutional framework of NEEDS and the ...

Community Empowerment through Islamic Microfinances: Perceptions in Comparison

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Lathif Hanafir Rifqi

2017-04-01

Full Text Available BMT (Islamic saving and loan cooperative has continuosly been one of the Islamic microfinance institutions playing a significant role in empowering economic society. There has been a number of research discussing on the effort, however none of them discussed on the perception between the empowers and the empowered group. Comparing these perceptions is a salient effort to find similarities or differencess of perceptions. This research seeks to compare empowerment perception between two organizations. One hand hand, the first party taking BMT BIF Ledok Timoho as the empowering organization and on the other hand focusing on a group of women's empowerment Ledok Timoho. Gathering data through doing observation and in-depth interview had been employed with selecting the purposive informants that contains a BMT BIF and four empowerment group representatives. To conclude, this research found that are similarities of perceptions on empowerment goals, process, outcomes and constraints.

Voice congruency facilitates word recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Campeanu, Sandra; Craik, Fergus I M; Alain, Claude

2013-01-01

Behavioral studies of spoken word memory have shown that context congruency facilitates both word and source recognition, though the level at which context exerts its influence remains equivocal. We measured event-related potentials (ERPs) while participants performed both types of recognition task with words spoken in four voices. Two voice parameters (i.e., gender and accent) varied between speakers, with the possibility that none, one or two of these parameters was congruent between study and test. Results indicated that reinstating the study voice at test facilitated both word and source recognition, compared to similar or no context congruency at test. Behavioral effects were paralleled by two ERP modulations. First, in the word recognition test, the left parietal old/new effect showed a positive deflection reflective of context congruency between study and test words. Namely, the same speaker condition provided the most positive deflection of all correctly identified old words. In the source recognition test, a right frontal positivity was found for the same speaker condition compared to the different speaker conditions, regardless of response success. Taken together, the results of this study suggest that the benefit of context congruency is reflected behaviorally and in ERP modulations traditionally associated with recognition memory.

Voice congruency facilitates word recognition.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sandra Campeanu

Full Text Available Behavioral studies of spoken word memory have shown that context congruency facilitates both word and source recognition, though the level at which context exerts its influence remains equivocal. We measured event-related potentials (ERPs while participants performed both types of recognition task with words spoken in four voices. Two voice parameters (i.e., gender and accent varied between speakers, with the possibility that none, one or two of these parameters was congruent between study and test. Results indicated that reinstating the study voice at test facilitated both word and source recognition, compared to similar or no context congruency at test. Behavioral effects were paralleled by two ERP modulations. First, in the word recognition test, the left parietal old/new effect showed a positive deflection reflective of context congruency between study and test words. Namely, the same speaker condition provided the most positive deflection of all correctly identified old words. In the source recognition test, a right frontal positivity was found for the same speaker condition compared to the different speaker conditions, regardless of response success. Taken together, the results of this study suggest that the benefit of context congruency is reflected behaviorally and in ERP modulations traditionally associated with recognition memory.

Action research and empowerment in a Danish context – experiences from three different contexts

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, John; Søgård jensen, Michael; Bilfeldt, Anette

The paper discusses how action research with active participation from a.o. citizens, public employees, private employees and environmental organizations, can contribute to strengthen these actors’ capacity to get influence on the development of society and to contribute to societal change...... for better social and environmental conditions. The paper introduces the core concepts in action research and the linkage between critical participatory action research and empowerment. The paper presents three different action research projects that has been carried out in: 1) a public nursing home, where...... in methods that have been employed in the three projects. Finally challenges and opportunities for action research to contribute to empowerment and to the development of societal change with better social and environmental conditions are discussed....

Is perceived patient involvement in mental health care associated with satisfaction and empowerment?

Science.gov (United States)

Tambuyzer, Else; Van Audenhove, Chantal

2015-08-01

Patients increasingly assume active roles in their mental health care. While there is a growing interest in patient involvement and patient-reported outcomes, there is insufficient research on the outcomes of patient involvement. The research questions in this study are as follows: 'To what extent is perceived patient involvement associated with satisfaction and empowerment?'; 'What is the nature of the relationship between satisfaction and empowerment?'; and 'To what extent are background variables associated with satisfaction and empowerment?'. We assumed that a higher degree of patient involvement is associated with higher satisfaction and empowerment scores and that satisfaction and empowerment are positively associated. Data were gathered using surveys of 111 patients of 36 multidisciplinary care networks for persons with serious and persistent mental illness. Demographic characteristics, patient involvement and satisfaction were measured using a new questionnaire. Empowerment was assessed using the Dutch Empowerment Scale. Descriptive, univariate (Pearson's r and independent-samples t-tests), multivariate (hierarchical forced entry regression) and mixed-model analyses were conducted. The hypotheses of positive associations between patient involvement, satisfaction and empowerment are confirmed. The demographics are not significantly related to satisfaction or empowerment, except for gender. Men reported higher empowerment scores than did women. Making patient involvement a reality is more than just an ethical imperative. It provides an opportunity to enhance patient-reported outcomes such as satisfaction and empowerment. Future research should focus on the nature of the association between satisfaction and empowerment. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Writing with Voice

Science.gov (United States)

Kesler, Ted

2012-01-01

In this Teaching Tips article, the author argues for a dialogic conception of voice, based in the work of Mikhail Bakhtin. He demonstrates a dialogic view of voice in action, using two writing examples about the same topic from his daughter, a fifth-grade student. He then provides five practical tips for teaching a dialogic conception of voice in…

Marshall’s Voice

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Halper Thomas

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Most judicial opinions, for a variety of reasons, do not speak with the voice of identifiable judges, but an analysis of several of John Marshall’s best known opinions reveals a distinctive voice, with its characteristic language and style of argumentation. The power of this voice helps to account for the influence of his views.

Sedentary behavior, physical activity, and psychological health of Korean older adults with hypertension: effect of an empowerment intervention.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Ae Kyung; Fritschi, Cynthia; Kim, Mi Ja

2013-04-01

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of an 8-week empowerment intervention on sedentary behavior, physical activity, and psychological health in Korean older adults with hypertension. Using a quasi-experimental design, older adults participated in either an experimental group (n = 27) or control group (n = 21). The experimental group received an empowerment intervention including lifestyle modification education, group discussion, and exercise training for 8 weeks, and the control group received standard hypertension education. After 8 weeks, participants in the experimental group had significantly decreased sedentary behavior, increased physical activity, increased self-efficacy for physical activity, and increased perceived health (p decreasing sedentary behavior and increasing physical activity, self-efficacy for physical activity, and perceived health in Korean older adults with hypertension. Copyright 2013, SLACK Incorporated.

Empowerment Foster Children Youth Education Centers

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Karina Szafrańska

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Youth Educational Centers (YEC are open social rehabilitation institutions for socially maladjusted adolescents who are placed in such centres by court order. The wards who become self-dependent and return to their usual destructive upbringing environments give cause for concern. There is a risk that various social rehabilitation and educational measures taken in the center will be undone. If a person is to function well, they need to be provided with necessary assistance during the so-called self-empowerment process that will prepare them to function in society. This article is to draw attention to the impact of the YEC aiming at the self-empowerment of wards, exampled by the “Trampolina” project by the Orionist Farthers (YEC, Barska Street in Warsaw and the project of forming and running the “Damy radę” (We will manage empowerment group at the YEC in Radzionków.

A chronological overview of women empowerment initiatives in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The implication of empowerment initiatives is focused on women farmers. In conclusion, the paper upholds that women empowerment struggles have recorded great success across many contexts in the world, including Nigeria, although much remains to be done. Keywords: Beijing Conference, Gender equality, Nigeria, ...

Sex workers as peer health advocates: community empowerment and transformative learning through a Canadian pilot program.

Science.gov (United States)

Benoit, Cecilia; Belle-Isle, Lynne; Smith, Michaela; Phillips, Rachel; Shumka, Leah; Atchison, Chris; Jansson, Mikael; Loppie, Charlotte; Flagg, Jackson

2017-08-30

Social marginalization and criminalization create health and safety risks for sex workers and reduce their access to health promotion and prevention services compared to the general population. Community empowerment-based interventions that prioritize the engagement of sex workers show promising results. Peer-to-peer interventions, wherein sex workers act as educators of their colleagues, managers, clients and romantic partners, foster community mobilization and critical consciousness among sex workers and equip them to exercise agency in their work and personal lives. A pilot peer health education program was developed and implemented, with and for sex workers in one urban centre in Canada. To explore how the training program contributed to community empowerment and transformative learning among participants, the authors conducted qualitative interviews, asked participants to keep personal journals and to fill out feedback forms after each session. Thematic analysis was conducted on these three data sources, with emerging themes identified, organized and presented in the findings. Five themes emerged from the analysis. Our findings show that the pilot program led to reduced internalized stigma and increased self-esteem in participants. Participants' critical consciousness increased concerning issues of diversity in cultural background, sexual orientation, work experiences and gender identity. Participants gained knowledge about how sex work stigma is enacted and perpetuated. They also became increasingly comfortable challenging negative judgments from others, including frontline service providers. Participants were encouraged to actively shape the training program, which fostered positive relationships and solidarity among them, as well as with colleagues in their social network and with the local sex worker organization housing the program. Resources were also mobilized within the sex worker community through skills building and knowledge acquisition. The peer

Threat of the feminine identity: The emerging structure in exploring the process of women's empowerment for menopause management: A grounded theory study

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Mansoureh Yazdkhasti

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Women empowerment in different spheres of life especially menopause is among the key elements of health promotion in all communities. However there is no realistic images of empowering women in menopausal symptoms management. The present survey aimed to explain the process of women's empowerment for menopausal symptoms management. This qualitative study is part of a larger project which was conducted using Grounded Theory between 2013 and 2015. The article's main focus was to explore the underlying conditions and factors affecting the process of women's empowerment. Using a purposive and theoretical sampling method, 25 participants were interviewed 28 times. Data was collected through some in-depth, semi-structural and open ended interviews with the participant and also memoing and field notes. The interviews were conducted in Neighborhoods House affiliated to Tehran municipality and two gynecological clinics affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Data analysis was applied through Strauss and Corbin approach (2008 using MAXQDA10 software. Threat of the feminine identity has been noted as the women's most common concern to being empowered in menopause management. The key theme emerged in the present study (threat of the feminine identity included four main categories (consciousness about the likelihood of femininity decline, negative attitude towards herself, inadequate supportive context, latent opportunity, two subcategories and 109 first-level codes. There is a logical, coherent and integrated relationship between all these concepts and the theme of feminine identity threat. This theme is considered as an underlying social problem and a major concern for postmenopausal women in the context of this group of women's empowerment. The factors (barriers and facilitators affecting women's empowerment in menopause management are associated with social context, intensity and origin of each society. Evaluation of Iranian women

A pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis-Pre-clinical trials of controlling the voice onset and offset.

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Ahmadi, Farzaneh; Noorian, Farzad; Novakovic, Daniel; van Schaik, André

2018-01-01

Despite emergent progress in many fields of bionics, a functional Bionic Voice prosthesis for laryngectomy patients (larynx amputees) has not yet been achieved, leading to a lifetime of vocal disability for these patients. This study introduces a novel framework of Pneumatic Bionic Voice Prostheses as an electronic adaptation of the Pneumatic Artificial Larynx (PAL) device. The PAL is a non-invasive mechanical voice source, driven exclusively by respiration with an exceptionally high voice quality, comparable to the existing gold standard of Tracheoesophageal (TE) voice prosthesis. Following PAL design closely as the reference, Pneumatic Bionic Voice Prostheses seem to have a strong potential to substitute the existing gold standard by generating a similar voice quality while remaining non-invasive and non-surgical. This paper designs the first Pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis and evaluates its onset and offset control against the PAL device through pre-clinical trials on one laryngectomy patient. The evaluation on a database of more than five hours of continuous/isolated speech recordings shows a close match between the onset/offset control of the Pneumatic Bionic Voice and the PAL with an accuracy of 98.45 ±0.54%. When implemented in real-time, the Pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis controller has an average onset/offset delay of 10 milliseconds compared to the PAL. Hence it addresses a major disadvantage of previous electronic voice prostheses, including myoelectric Bionic Voice, in meeting the short time-frames of controlling the onset/offset of the voice in continuous speech.

Measurement of Community Empowerment in Three Community Programs in Rapla (Estonia)

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Kasmel, Anu; Andersen, Pernille Tanggaard

2011-01-01

Community empowerment approaches have been proven to be powerful tools for solving local health problems. However, the methods for measuring empowerment in the community remain unclear and open to dispute. This study aims to describe how a context-specific community empowerment measurement tool was developed and changes made to three health promotion programs in Rapla, Estonia. An empowerment expansion model was compiled and applied to three existing programs: Safe Community, Drug/HIV Prevention and Elderly Quality of Life. The consensus workshop method was used to create the measurement tool and collect data on the Organizational Domains of Community Empowerment (ODCE). The study demonstrated considerable increases in the ODCE among the community workgroup, which was initiated by community members and the municipality’s decision-makers. The increase was within the workgroup, which had strong political and financial support on a national level but was not the community’s priority. The program was initiated and implemented by the local community members, and continuous development still occurred, though at a reduced pace. The use of the empowerment expansion model has proven to be an applicable, relevant, simple and inexpensive tool for the evaluation of community empowerment. PMID:21556179

Measurement of Community Empowerment in Three Community Programs in Rapla (Estonia

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Pernille Tanggaard Andersen

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Community empowerment approaches have been proven to be powerful tools for solving local health problems. However, the methods for measuring empowerment in the community remain unclear and open to dispute. This study aims to describe how a context-specific community empowerment measurement tool was developed and changes made to three health promotion programs in Rapla, Estonia. An empowerment expansion model was compiled and applied to three existing programs: Safe Community, Drug/HIV Prevention and Elderly Quality of Life. The consensus workshop method was used to create the measurement tool and collect data on the Organizational Domains of Community Empowerment (ODCE. The study demonstrated considerable increases in the ODCE among the community workgroup, which was initiated by community members and the municipality’s decision-makers. The increase was within the workgroup, which had strong political and financial support on a national level but was not the community’s priority. The program was initiated and implemented by the local community members, and continuous development still occurred, though at a reduced pace. The use of the empowerment expansion model has proven to be an applicable, relevant, simple and inexpensive tool for the evaluation of community empowerment.

Voci e silenzi in un'esperienza di Student Voice mediata dai social network

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Valentina Grion

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Based on the theoretical framework of Student Voice, this paper presents a research study designed to verify whether a social networking site such as Facebook represents a feasible way for secondary school students to express their voice on school so as to enhance the quality of school education. With this purpose in mind, a private group was set up on Facebook and some questions were posted to activate participation. Moreover, two surveys were administered to gauge students’ confidence with Facebook and explore the reasons behind their overall reticence to participate in the proposed activity. The low levels of response provide the authors with elements for reflecting upon the Student Voice approach and how it might be implemented successfully at school level. They also lead to some considerations about the use of social networking sites in the school context.

Literature review of women's economic empowerment and the care ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

2013-07-10

Jul 10, 2013 ... Literature review of women's economic empowerment and the care ... empowerment, gender equality and growth in low-income countries. ... Mini soap operas foster financial education and inclusion of women in Peru.

Enactments of Discursive Empowerment in Narratives of Medium of Education by North Indian Women

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Sandhu, Priti

2010-01-01

In this study I examine how women in a north Indian city narratively construct their identities in relation to medium of education (MoE)--English only (EME), Hindi only (HME), and a combination of both. I specifically analyze how the participants discursively articulate empowerment or disempowerment while narrating stories connected to their MoEs.…

Voice similarity in identical twins.

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Van Gysel, W D; Vercammen, J; Debruyne, F

2001-01-01

If people are asked to discriminate visually the two individuals of a monozygotic twin (MT), they mostly get into trouble. Does this problem also exist when listening to twin voices? Twenty female and 10 male MT voices were randomly assembled with one "strange" voice to get voice trios. The listeners (10 female students in Speech and Language Pathology) were asked to label the twins (voices 1-2, 1-3 or 2-3) in two conditions: two standard sentences read aloud and a 2.5-second midsection of a sustained /a/. The proportion correctly labelled twins was for female voices 82% and 63% and for male voices 74% and 52% for the sentences and the sustained /a/ respectively, both being significantly greater than chance (33%). The acoustic analysis revealed a high intra-twin correlation for the speaking fundamental frequency (SFF) of the sentences and the fundamental frequency (F0) of the sustained /a/. So the voice pitch could have been a useful characteristic in the perceptual identification of the twins. We conclude that there is a greater perceptual resemblance between the voices of identical twins than between voices without genetic relationship. The identification however is not perfect. The voice pitch possibly contributes to the correct twin identifications.

Facial Visualizations of Women's Voices Suggest a Cross-Modality Preference for Femininity

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Susanne Röder

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Women with higher-pitched voices and more feminine facial features are commonly judged as being more attractive than are women with lower-pitched voices and less feminine faces, possibly because both features are affected by (age-related variations in endocrine status. These results are primarily derived from investigations of perceptions of variations in single-modality stimuli (i.e., faces or voices in samples of young adult women. In the present study we sought to test whether male and female perceptions of women's voices affect visual representations of facial femininity. Eighty men and women judged voice recordings of 10 young girls (11–15 years, 10 adult women (19–28 years and 10 peri-/post-menopausal women (50–64 years on age, attractiveness, and femininity. Another 80 men and women were asked to indicate the face they think each voice corresponded to using a video that gradually changed from a masculine looking male face into a feminine looking female face. Both male and female participants perceived voices of young girls and adult women to be significantly younger, more attractive and feminine than those of peri-/post-menopausal women. Hearing young girls' and adult women's voices resulted in both men and women selecting faces that differed markedly in apparent femininity from those associated with peri-/post-menopausal women's voices. Voices of young girls had the strongest effect on visualizations of facial femininity. Our results suggest a cross-modal preference for women's vocal and facial femininity, which depends on female age and is independent of the perceiver's sex.

Influence of Leadership Approach on Employee Empowerment: A Study of Selected Small-Scale Businesses in Nigeria

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Olajide Idowu Okunbanjo

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Leadership determines the attitude of employees toward discharging the responsibilities in organizations. There have been few studies on leadership as it influences employee empowerment. Thus, the broad objective of this paper is to examine the relationship between leadership approach and employee empowerment in small businesses in Lagos State. The study administered 400 questionnaires to the employees of Small businesses in Lagos state; 377 were returned, but 372 were found usable. Pearson correlation matrix was employed to test the significant relationship between leadership approach and employee empowerment. The findings revealed that directive leadership approach significantly shows the positive relationship with employee training and delegation of authority to employees, and also participative leadership approach is insignificant and indicates the negative relationship with the delegation of authority at 5% significant level. Thus, this study recommends that owners or entrepreneurs of small businesses should adopt directive leadership approach due to the fact that it is significantly related to delegation of authority and training, unlike participative leadership. Also, employers of employees in small businesses in Nigeria should let their employee know the importance of following instructions given to them to complete the task assigned to them, and also owners of small businesses should entertain employees' suggestions and ideas in order to be able to state well-defined business policy(ies and instructions to be followed.

Tips for Healthy Voices

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... prevent voice problems and maintain a healthy voice: Drink water (stay well hydrated): Keeping your body well hydrated by drinking plenty of water each day (6-8 glasses) is essential to maintaining a healthy voice. The ...

Occupational voice demands and their impact on the call-centre industry

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Duffy OM

2009-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Within the last decade there has been a growth in the call-centre industry in the UK, with a growing awareness of the voice as an important tool for successful communication. Occupational voice problems such as occupational dysphonia, in a business which relies on healthy, effective voice as the primary professional communication tool, may threaten working ability and occupational health and safety of workers. While previous studies of telephone call-agents have reported a range of voice symptoms and functional vocal health problems, there have been no studies investigating the use and impact of vocal performance in the communication industry within the UK. This study aims to address a significant gap in the evidence-base of occupational health and safety research. The objectives of the study are: 1. to investigate the work context and vocal communication demands for call-agents; 2. to evaluate call-agents' vocal health, awareness and performance; and 3. to identify key risks and training needs for employees and employers within call-centres. Methods and design This is an occupational epidemiological study, which plans to recruit call-centres throughout the UK and Ireland. Data collection will consist of three components: 1. interviews with managers from each participating call-centre to assess their communication and training needs; 2. an online biopsychosocial questionnaire will be administered to investigate the work environment and vocal demands of call-agents; and 3. voice acoustic measurements of a random sample of participants using the Multi-dimensional Voice Program (MDVP. Qualitative content analysis from the interviews will identify underlying themes and issues. A multivariate analysis approach will be adopted using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM, to develop voice measurement models in determining the construct validity of potential factors contributing to occupational dysphonia. Quantitative data will be

Religion, faith and the empowerment process: stories of Iranian people with diabetes.

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Abdoli, Samereh; Ashktorab, Tahereh; Ahmadi, Fazlollah; Parvizy, Soroor; Dunning, Trisha

2011-06-01

Empowerment concerning people with diabetes is well researched. However, few researchers specifically focus on the barriers to and facilitators of empowerment in Iranian people with diabetes. Understanding the factors could help health professionals facilitate self-empowerment more effectively. This study aims to determine the barriers to and facilitators of empowerment in Iranian people with diabetes. A qualitative exploratory study was conducted using in-depth interviews to collect the data from 11 women and men in 2007. Themes were identified using constant comparative analysis method. Common barriers to empowerment were similar to other chronic diseases: prolonged stress, negative view about diabetes, ineffective health-care systems, poverty and illiteracy. Diabetes education, fear of diabetes' complications, self-efficacy and hope for a better future emerged as being crucial to empowerment. Facilitators specific to Iranians were: the power of religion and faith, the concept of the doctor as holy man, accepting diabetes as God's will, caring for the body because it was God's gift and support from families especially daughters. Empowerment was strongly influenced by cultural and religious beliefs in Iran and the power of faith emerged as an important facilitator of diabetes empowerment. The findings will help health professionals understand how Iranian people with diabetes view life and the factors that facilitate empowerment. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Development and validation of a new tool to measure Iranian pregnant women's empowerment.

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Borghei, N S; Taghipour, A; Roudsari, R Latifnejad; Keramat, A

2016-03-15

Empowering pregnant women improves their health and reduces maternal mortality, but there is a lack of suitable tools to measure women's empowerment in some cultures. This study aimed to design and validate a questionnaire for measuring the dimensions of empowerment among Iranian pregnant women. After a literature review, and face and content validity testing, a 38-item questionnaire was developed and tested on a sample of 161 pregnant women. Factor analysis grouped the items into 3 subscales: educational empowerment (e.g. prenatal training), autonomy (e.g. financial independency and mental ability) and sociopolitical empowerment (e.g. involvement in social and political activities). Criterion validity testing showed a strong positive correlation of the total scale and subscales scores with the Kameda and the Spritzer empowerment scales. Cronbach alpha was 0.92 for total empowerment. A total of 32 items remained in the Self-Structured Pregnancy Empowerment Questionnaire, which is a valid new tool to measure the dimensions of pregnant women's empowerment.

The Influence of Affordable Daycare on Women's Empowerment in ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

The Influence of Affordable Daycare on Women's Empowerment in India ... services for the poor likely contribute to gender inequality by restricting women's educational ... a state that performs poorly in terms of women's empowerment in India.

A Comparative Study of the VHI-10 and the V-RQOL for Quality of Life Among Chinese Teachers With and Without Voice Disorders.

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Lu, Dan; Wen, Bei; Yang, Hui; Chen, Fei; Liu, Jun; Xu, Yanan; Zheng, Yitao; Zhao, Yu; Zou, Jian; Wang, Haiyang

2017-07-01

To investigate the differences and correlation between the Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI-10) and the Voice-Related Quality of Life (V-RQOL) in teachers in China with and without voice disorders. This is a cross-sectional descriptive analytical study. The participants were 864 teachers (569 women, 295 men) whose vocal cords were examined using a flexible nasofibrolaryngoscope. Questionnaire results were obtained for both the VHI-10 and the V-RQOL. Of the 864 participants, 409 teachers had no voice disorders and 455 teachers had voice disorders. The most common voice complaint was hoarseness (n = 298) and the most common throat complaint was globus pharyngis (n = 79) in teachers with voice disorders. Chronic laryngitis (n = 218) and polyps and nodules (n = 182) were the most frequent diagnoses in teachers with voice disorders. Significant differences were seen on the VHI-10 between teachers with and those without voice disorders (P teachers with voice disorders (P teachers. Teachers with voice disorders have poor voice-related quality of life, with more impairment seen among female than male teachers. Different groups of voice disorders have different effects on voice-related quality of life. A moderate correlation was found between the results of the VHI-10 and the V-RQOL. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Does CPAP Affect Patient-Reported Voice Outcomes?

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Hartke, Vance; Gillespie, Amanda; Smith, Libby J; Soose, Ryan J

2018-04-01

Upper aerodigestive tract symptoms are common in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). It remains unclear whether continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) improves or worsens these otolaryngology symptoms. As therapy-related side effects limit CPAP adherence, this study aimed to determine if CPAP negatively affects voice, sinonasal, and reflux symptoms of the upper airway. Case series with planned data collection was performed at an academic otolaryngology sleep center. Newly diagnosed patients with OSA were evaluated before and 6 months after initiating CPAP therapy. Data collected included CPAP data download, Reflux Symptom Index (RSI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), Voice Handicap Index 10 (VHI-10), Sino-Nasal Questionnaire (SNQ), and oral dryness visual analog scale (VAS). For the 11 CPAP-adherent participants, the RSI significantly improved with CPAP (mean RSI, 22.0-9.5; P = .002); however, the VAS, VHI-10, and SNQ did not change after 6 months of CPAP therapy. In a small sample size, patient-reported voice outcomes (VHI-10) and other upper aerodigestive tract symptoms did not worsen with CPAP; rather, CPAP therapy was associated with a reduction in reflux symptoms.

A pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis-Pre-clinical trials of controlling the voice onset and offset.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Farzaneh Ahmadi

Full Text Available Despite emergent progress in many fields of bionics, a functional Bionic Voice prosthesis for laryngectomy patients (larynx amputees has not yet been achieved, leading to a lifetime of vocal disability for these patients. This study introduces a novel framework of Pneumatic Bionic Voice Prostheses as an electronic adaptation of the Pneumatic Artificial Larynx (PAL device. The PAL is a non-invasive mechanical voice source, driven exclusively by respiration with an exceptionally high voice quality, comparable to the existing gold standard of Tracheoesophageal (TE voice prosthesis. Following PAL design closely as the reference, Pneumatic Bionic Voice Prostheses seem to have a strong potential to substitute the existing gold standard by generating a similar voice quality while remaining non-invasive and non-surgical. This paper designs the first Pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis and evaluates its onset and offset control against the PAL device through pre-clinical trials on one laryngectomy patient. The evaluation on a database of more than five hours of continuous/isolated speech recordings shows a close match between the onset/offset control of the Pneumatic Bionic Voice and the PAL with an accuracy of 98.45 ±0.54%. When implemented in real-time, the Pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis controller has an average onset/offset delay of 10 milliseconds compared to the PAL. Hence it addresses a major disadvantage of previous electronic voice prostheses, including myoelectric Bionic Voice, in meeting the short time-frames of controlling the onset/offset of the voice in continuous speech.

A pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis—Pre-clinical trials of controlling the voice onset and offset

Science.gov (United States)

Noorian, Farzad; Novakovic, Daniel; van Schaik, André

2018-01-01

Despite emergent progress in many fields of bionics, a functional Bionic Voice prosthesis for laryngectomy patients (larynx amputees) has not yet been achieved, leading to a lifetime of vocal disability for these patients. This study introduces a novel framework of Pneumatic Bionic Voice Prostheses as an electronic adaptation of the Pneumatic Artificial Larynx (PAL) device. The PAL is a non-invasive mechanical voice source, driven exclusively by respiration with an exceptionally high voice quality, comparable to the existing gold standard of Tracheoesophageal (TE) voice prosthesis. Following PAL design closely as the reference, Pneumatic Bionic Voice Prostheses seem to have a strong potential to substitute the existing gold standard by generating a similar voice quality while remaining non-invasive and non-surgical. This paper designs the first Pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis and evaluates its onset and offset control against the PAL device through pre-clinical trials on one laryngectomy patient. The evaluation on a database of more than five hours of continuous/isolated speech recordings shows a close match between the onset/offset control of the Pneumatic Bionic Voice and the PAL with an accuracy of 98.45 ±0.54%. When implemented in real-time, the Pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis controller has an average onset/offset delay of 10 milliseconds compared to the PAL. Hence it addresses a major disadvantage of previous electronic voice prostheses, including myoelectric Bionic Voice, in meeting the short time-frames of controlling the onset/offset of the voice in continuous speech. PMID:29466455

Evaluating Patient Empowerment in Association With eHealth Technology: Scoping Review.

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Risling, Tracie; Martinez, Juan; Young, Jeremy; Thorp-Froslie, Nancy

2017-09-29

The prioritization of sustainable patient-centered care in contemporary health care has resulted in an increased focus on patient empowerment, which in turn is considered to facilitate patient independence, self-management, and self-efficacy. However, a definitional consensus of empowerment remains elusive, impeding efforts to translate the conceptual ideals of empowerment into a measurable entity associated with changes in health care behavior or outcomes. The rapid integration of technology in health care serves to add another layer of complexity in the measurability and operationalization of empowerment and helps to create a specific context in which this conceptual entity should be further examined. The primary objective of this scoping review was to explore the concept of patient empowerment within the electronic health (eHealth) context. A further focus on the association or measurement of this concept in conjunction with tethered patient portal use was also employed. In this scoping review, a six-step framework was used to guide the search and paper selection process. The review was initiated with two broad research questions, which are as follows: (1) What is the relationship between empowerment and the use of eHealth technologies from a patient perspective? (2) How is patient empowerment (and/or engagement or activation) influenced by accessing personal health information through a tethered patient portal? Multiple databases were employed in a comprehensive search strategy, and papers were primarily evaluated and selected for inclusion by 2 review authors, and a third author was consulted to resolve any issues in reaching consensus. From an initial count of 1387 publications, this review returned nine systematic or literature review papers and 19 empirical studies that pertained to patient empowerment (and/or engagement and activation) in relation to the use of tethered patient portals providing access to electronic health records (EHRs). Of the 19

A prescription for sustaining community engagement in malaria elimination on Aneityum Island, Vanuatu: an application of Health Empowerment Theory.

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Watanabe, Noriko; Kaneko, Akira; Yamar, Sam; Taleo, George; Tanihata, Takeo; Lum, J Koji; Larson, Peter S; Shearer, Nelma B C

2015-07-31

Community engagement has contributed to disease control and elimination in many countries. Community engagement in malaria elimination (ME) on Aneityum Island has been sustained since its introduction in the early 1990s. Capacity developed within this population has led to a health empowered community response. Health Empowerment Theory (HET) can account for the innovative community actions and capacity development efforts taken to realize and sustain meaningful changes in well-being. This study used the HET framework to investigate participant perceptions of ME efforts on the island focusing on two HET elements, personal and social-contextual resources. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of empowerment as a critical element of community engagement. Six focus group discussions, ten key informant interviews and 17 in-depth interviews were conducted in July 2012 on Aneityum. Both deductive and inductive approaches to qualitative content analysis were used to identify themes, which were condensed, coded and classified based on the HET elements above. Awareness and use of personal and social-contextual resources played an important role in ME efforts. Most participants shared their knowledge to prevent malaria reintroduction. Many participants reported their skills needed for behavioral maintenance, problem-solving or leadership. Participants who perceived a threat took preventive actions even in the dry season. Community leaders focused on second generation capacity development. A local health coalition provided ME services. Members of networks were sources of information and assistance. Face-to-face was the preferred method of communication. Barriers to engagement (e.g., financial difficulties, health literacy issues and underdeveloped infrastructure) were minimized through active collaboration and mutual assistance. In the community engagement continuum, health empowerment develops incrementally overtime as people gain their knowledge and skills, form

Empowerment: The Relationship of Women and Power

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Magdalena León

2000-01-01

Full Text Available The use of the term 'empowerment' by feminism is closely linked to the importance that social movements as well as social science theory have attributed to the idea of power. For theorists such as Gramsci, Foucault and Paulo Freire, power is a social relationship that is conditioned historically and socially. Even though they do not refer specifically to the power present in gender relations and do not deploy the word "empowerment”, their analyses inspired reflections on that notion by feminist theorists and activists. Since the emergence of the so-called 'second wave' of feminism, the concept of empowerment has been debated by many women's groups. For women's movements, empowerment is a strategy almed at fostering changes in women's dally lives and fomenting the transformation of social structures.

Comparing Voice-Therapy and Vocal-Hygiene Treatments in Dysphonia Using a Limited Multidimensional Evaluation Protocol

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Rodriguez-Parra, Maria J.; Adrian, Jose A.; Casado, Juan C.

2011-01-01

Purpose: This study evaluates the effectiveness of two different programs of voice-treatment on a heterogeneous group of dysphonic speakers and the stability of therapeutic progress for longterm follow-up post-treatment period, using a limited multidimensional protocol of evaluation. Method: Forty-two participants with voice disorders were…

Factors affecting Korean nursing student empowerment in clinical practice.

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Ahn, Yang-Heui; Choi, Jihea

2015-12-01

Understanding the phenomenon of nursing student empowerment in clinical practice is important. Investigating the cognition of empowerment and identifying predictors are necessary to enhance nursing student empowerment in clinical practice. To identify empowerment predictors for Korean nursing students in clinical practice based on studies by Bradbury-Jones et al. and Spreitzer. A cross-sectional design was used for this study. This study was performed in three nursing colleges in Korea, all of which had similar baccalaureate nursing curricula. Three hundred seven junior or senior nursing students completed a survey designed to measure factors that were hypothesized to influence nursing student empowerment in clinical practice. Data were collected from November to December 2011. Study variables included self-esteem, clinical decision making, being valued as a learner, satisfaction regarding practice with a team member, perception on professor/instructor/clinical preceptor attitude, and total number of clinical practice fields. Data were analyzed using stepwise multiple regression analyses. All of the hypothesized study variables were significantly correlated to nursing student empowerment. Stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that clinical decision making in nursing (t=7.59, pempowerment in clinical practice will be possible by using educational strategies to improve nursing student clinical decision making. Simultaneously, attitudes of nurse educators are also important to ensure that nursing students are treated as valued learners and to increase student self-esteem in clinical practice. Finally, diverse clinical practice field environments should be considered to enhance experience. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Individual identity and organisational control: empowerment and modernisation in a primary care trust.

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McDonald, Ruth

2004-11-01

The notion of empowerment has been increasingly used within management discourses in recent years. Enthusiastic supporters conceive it as an acknowledgement of the individual employee as a talented, creative being, and hence a productive resource for contributing to organisational goals. Alternatively, more critical commentators have interpreted it as another means of exercising control over employees and their identities. Although various commentators have speculated on the management of identity as a means of organizational control, there is very little empirical work from which to draw conclusions. This paper, using participant observation and interview data, represents a contribution to the small body of empirical research in the area. It focuses on an initiative aimed ostensibly at 'empowering' staff in an English Primary Care Trust, which may be seen as an attempt at increasing organisational control by shaping employee identities. As such, these processes can be understood more readily in terms of ethics rather than empowerment. The term ethics is used here in a Foucauldian sense and is linked to the processes of self-definition and self-constraint by which individuals train themselves to become ethical persons. The paper suggests that the outcome of attempts to manufacture particular forms of subjectivity by such methods as 'empowerment' programmes may be very different from those intended.

An exploratory study of voice change associated with healthy speakers after transcutaneous electrical stimulation to laryngeal muscles.

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Fowler, Linda P; Gorham-Rowan, Mary; Hapner, Edie R

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine if measurable changes in fundamental frequency (F(0)) and relative sound level (RSL) occurred in healthy speakers after transcutaneous electrical stimulation (TES) as applied via VitalStim (Chattanooga Group, Chattanooga, TN). A prospective, repeated-measures design. Ten healthy female and 10 healthy male speakers, 20-53 years of age, participated in the study. All participants were nonsmokers and reported negative history for voice disorders. Participants received 1 hour of TES while engaged in eating, drinking, and conversation to simulate a typical dysphagia therapy protocol. Voice recordings were obtained before and immediately after TES. The voice samples consisted of a sustained vowel task and reading of the Rainbow Passage. Measurements of F(0) and RSL were obtained using TF32 (Milenkovic, 2005, University of Wisconsin). The participants also reported any sensations 5 minutes and 24 hours after TES. Measurable changes in F(0) and RSL were found for both tasks but were variable in direction and magnitude. These changes were not statistically significant. Subjective comments ranged from reports of a vocal warm-up feeling to delayed onset muscle soreness. These findings demonstrate that application of TES produces measurable changes in F(0) and RSL. However, the direction and magnitude of these changes are highly variable. Further research is needed to determine factors that may affect the extent to which TES contributes to significant changes in voice. Copyright © 2011 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Delegation versus empowerment: what, how, and is there a difference?

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McConnell, C R

1995-09-01

Delegation--or empowerment--represents the essence of the supervisory task: getting things done through people. The terms are no different from each other; empowerment is simply delegation done properly. The process still fails for the same old reasons, and failure still causes the same kinds of problems. Delegation or empowerment involves authority; it is authority that is delegated, not responsibility, as commonly claimed. Under either name it is an imperfect process requiring subjective judgments and chronic risk. Although either label is acceptable--the few differences between delegation and empowerment are semantic only--the significant constant that must be present is a sense of task ownership on the part of the empowered employee.

Visual attention modulates brain activation to angry voices.

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Mothes-Lasch, Martin; Mentzel, Hans-Joachim; Miltner, Wolfgang H R; Straube, Thomas

2011-06-29

In accordance with influential models proposing prioritized processing of threat, previous studies have shown automatic brain responses to angry prosody in the amygdala and the auditory cortex under auditory distraction conditions. However, it is unknown whether the automatic processing of angry prosody is also observed during cross-modal distraction. The current fMRI study investigated brain responses to angry versus neutral prosodic stimuli during visual distraction. During scanning, participants were exposed to angry or neutral prosodic stimuli while visual symbols were displayed simultaneously. By means of task requirements, participants either attended to the voices or to the visual stimuli. While the auditory task revealed pronounced activation in the auditory cortex and amygdala to angry versus neutral prosody, this effect was absent during the visual task. Thus, our results show a limitation of the automaticity of the activation of the amygdala and auditory cortex to angry prosody. The activation of these areas to threat-related voices depends on modality-specific attention.

Research on Influencing Factors of Salespeople's Empowerment Readiness in Green Energy Enterprise

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Dong, Yuan; Liu, Xiaohui

As market competition in green energy enterprises continues to intensify, marketing activities are enlarging and customer demand is increasingly growing and diversifying. More and more green energy enterprises have empowered their own salespeople. And managers in green energy enterprises are more concerned with the issues which employees suit to be empowered and which factors will influence employee empowerment readiness. This paper proposes the definition of salespeople's empowerment readiness, analyzes influencing factors of salespeople's empowerment readiness, discusses the effect mechanism of influencing factors of salespeople's empowerment readiness, finally, and puts forward some suggestions to enhance salespeople's empowerment readiness from the perspective of human resource management practice.

Voice reinstatement modulates neural indices of continuous word recognition.

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Campeanu, Sandra; Craik, Fergus I M; Backer, Kristina C; Alain, Claude

2014-09-01

The present study was designed to examine listeners' ability to use voice information incidentally during spoken word recognition. We recorded event-related brain potentials (ERPs) during a continuous recognition paradigm in which participants indicated on each trial whether the spoken word was "new" or "old." Old items were presented at 2, 8 or 16 words following the first presentation. Context congruency was manipulated by having the same word repeated by either the same speaker or a different speaker. The different speaker could share the gender, accent or neither feature with the word presented the first time. Participants' accuracy was greatest when the old word was spoken by the same speaker than by a different speaker. In addition, accuracy decreased with increasing lag. The correct identification of old words was accompanied by an enhanced late positivity over parietal sites, with no difference found between voice congruency conditions. In contrast, an earlier voice reinstatement effect was observed over frontal sites, an index of priming that preceded recollection in this task. Our results provide further evidence that acoustic and semantic information are integrated into a unified trace and that acoustic information facilitates spoken word recollection. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of the Interaction of Caffeine and Water on Voice Performance: A Pilot Study

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Franca, Maria Claudia; Simpson, Kenneth O.

2013-01-01

The objective of this "pilot" investigation was to study the effects of the interaction of caffeine and water intake on voice as evidenced by acoustic and aerodynamic measures, to determine whether ingestion of 200 mg of caffeine and various levels of water intake have an impact on voice. The participants were 48 females ranging in age…

METHODS FOR QUALITY ENHANCEMENT OF USER VOICE SIGNAL IN VOICE AUTHENTICATION SYSTEMS

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O. N. Faizulaieva

2014-03-01

Full Text Available The reasonability for the usage of computer systems user voice in the authentication process is proved. The scientific task for improving the signal/noise ratio of the user voice signal in the authentication system is considered. The object of study is the process of input and output of the voice signal of authentication system user in computer systems and networks. Methods and means for input and extraction of voice signal against external interference signals are researched. Methods for quality enhancement of user voice signal in voice authentication systems are suggested. As modern computer facilities, including mobile ones, have two-channel audio card, the usage of two microphones is proposed in the voice signal input system of authentication system. Meanwhile, the task of forming a lobe of microphone array in a desired area of voice signal registration (100 Hz to 8 kHz is solved. The usage of directional properties of the proposed microphone array gives the possibility to have the influence of external interference signals two or three times less in the frequency range from 4 to 8 kHz. The possibilities for implementation of space-time processing of the recorded signals using constant and adaptive weighting factors are investigated. The simulation results of the proposed system for input and extraction of signals during digital processing of narrowband signals are presented. The proposed solutions make it possible to improve the value of the signal/noise ratio of the useful signals recorded up to 10, ..., 20 dB under the influence of external interference signals in the frequency range from 4 to 8 kHz. The results may be useful to specialists working in the field of voice recognition and speaker’s discrimination.

(Dis)empowerment: The Implementation of Corrective Mathematics in Philadelphia Empowerment Schools

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Connor, Hannah

2011-01-01

The need to improve math education around the country has been well documented, especially in urban school systems like Philadelphia. In Spring 2010, only 56.6% of students in Philadelphia Public schools scored proficient or advanced on the Pennsylvania State Standardized Assessment (PSSA). In Philadelphia Empowerment Schools, the 107 lowest…

Asian Women's Action for Resilience and Empowerment Intervention: Stage I Pilot Study.

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Hahm, Hyeouk Chris; Chang, Stephanie Tzu-Han; Lee, Gloria Yoonseung; Tagerman, Michelle D; Lee, Christina S; Trentadue, Mia Pamela; Hien, Denise A

2017-01-01

This study describes the development and pilot test of Asian Women's Action for Resilience and Empowerment (AWARE), a culturally informed group psychotherapy intervention designed to reduce depressive symptoms, suicidality, substance use, and HIV and sexual risk behaviors among 1.5 and second generation Asian American (AA) women. To participate, AA women had to meet the criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or have a history of exposure to interpersonal violence (IPV) as determined using the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) and Traumatic Life Events Questionnaire (TLEQ). This article also presents the preliminary feasibility and acceptability of AWARE from its Stage I pilot study of nine Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese American women. To foster holistic treatment, AWARE was developed based on original research findings from Stage 0 and integrated theoretical models including fractured identity theory, empowerment theory, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), mindfulness-based techniques, and the AIDS Risk Reduction Model (ARRM). The development of AWARE was an iterative process informed by participant feedback, which led to frequent intervention modifications for a future randomized controlled trial (RCT) in Stage II. A qualitative analysis of participant feedback informed the following modifications: further exploration of feelings, improvements in technology delivery, learning and practicing coping skills, more specific cultural tailoring related to sexual health, decreased number of sessions and increased time per session. Findings provide support for the acceptability and feasibility of AWARE as "culturally informed" for AA young women with IPV histories, high-risk behaviors, and mental health issues.

Efficacy of a Social Self-Value Empowerment Intervention to Improve Quality of Life of HIV Infected People Receiving Antiretroviral Treatment in Nepal: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

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Bhatta, Dharma Nand; Liabsuetrakul, Tippawan

2017-06-01

We developed a comprehensive and culturally applicable empowerment intervention social self-value package with an aim to assess its efficacy in order to improve the quality of life (QoL) of HIV infected people receiving antiretroviral treatment. Participants were randomly allocated to receive either six weekly intervention sessions or standard care. Nonlinear mixed-effects models were performed to compare changes in empowerment scores over time. Between September and November 2014, 1447 individuals were screened, of whom 132 were randomly assigned to either the intervention or control group. The mean scores of empowerment, social support and quality of life increased and stigma scores were reduced in the intervention group at 3- and 6-months. An intervention effect on social support, stigma and QoL was significantly increased by time and group with low and high empowerment. No adverse events were reported. The empowerment intervention was efficacious in improving QoL of HIV infected people.

Influence of Psychological Empowerment on Organizational Commitment among Medical Employees in a Hospital Setting.

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Kebriaei, A; Rakhshaninejad, M; Mohseni, M

2014-12-01

People within organizations are a key factor for efficiency. Thus employee empowerment has become a popular management strategy. The study aimed to investigate the relationship between psychological empowerment and organizational commitment among medical staff of a hospital in Zahedan city. This cross sectional study was carried out in 2013. A random sample of 172 medical employees in Khatam-ol-Anbia hospital at Zahedan city was selected and responded to items of the questionnaires using a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 to 7. For measuring psychological empowerment and organizational commitment, Mishra & Spreitzer's scale and Meyer and Allen's questionnaire were used. A higher score means a higher degree of psychological empowerment or organizational commitment. Analysis was carried out using SPSS. The level of organizational commitment and psychological empowerment significantly were higher than average. There was a significant positive relationship between employees' empowerment and their commitment to organization. Psychological empowerment was a significant predictor of organizational commitment (β = .524). Out of the five dimensions of empowerment three dimensions are significant predictors of commitment and explain 37.1% of the variance in commitment. Due to The positive influence of psychological empowerment on organizational commitment, programs for in-service education should focus on facilitating psychological empowerment to improve and increase organizational commitment. Also, since impact of employees psychological empowerment on organizational commitment partially supported, there are other variables that influence the organizational commitment.

The Role of Occupational Voice Demand and Patient-Rated Impairment in Predicting Voice Therapy Adherence.

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Ebersole, Barbara; Soni, Resha S; Moran, Kathleen; Lango, Miriam; Devarajan, Karthik; Jamal, Nausheen

2018-05-01

Examine the relationship among the severity of patient-perceived voice impairment, perceptual dysphonia severity, occupational voice demand, and voice therapy adherence. Identify clinical predictors of increased risk for therapy nonadherence. A retrospective cohort study of patients presenting with a chief complaint of persistent dysphonia at an interdisciplinary voice center was done. The Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI-10) and the Voice-Related Quality of Life (V-RQOL) survey scores, clinician rating of dysphonia severity using the Grade score from the Grade, Roughness Breathiness, Asthenia, and Strain scale, occupational voice demand, and patient demographics were tested for associations with therapy adherence, defined as completion of the treatment plan. Classification and Regression Tree (CART) analysis was performed to establish thresholds for nonadherence risk. Of 166 patients evaluated, 111 were recommended for voice therapy. The therapy nonadherence rate was 56%. Occupational voice demand category, VHI-10, and V-RQOL scores were the only factors significantly correlated with therapy adherence (P demand are significantly more likely to be nonadherent with therapy than those with high occupational voice demand (P 40 is a significant cutoff point for predicting therapy nonadherence (P demand and patient perception of impairment are significantly and independently correlated with therapy adherence. A VHI-10 score of ≤9 or a V-RQOL score of >40 is a significant cutoff point for predicting nonadherence risk. Copyright © 2018 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Using voice input and audio feedback to enhance the reality of a virtual experience

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Miner, N.E.

1994-04-01

Virtual Reality (VR) is a rapidly emerging technology which allows participants to experience a virtual environment through stimulation of the participant`s senses. Intuitive and natural interactions with the virtual world help to create a realistic experience. Typically, a participant is immersed in a virtual environment through the use of a 3-D viewer. Realistic, computer-generated environment models and accurate tracking of a participant`s view are important factors for adding realism to a virtual experience. Stimulating a participant`s sense of sound and providing a natural form of communication for interacting with the virtual world are equally important. This paper discusses the advantages and importance of incorporating voice recognition and audio feedback capabilities into a virtual world experience. Various approaches and levels of complexity are discussed. Examples of the use of voice and sound are presented through the description of a research application developed in the VR laboratory at Sandia National Laboratories.

The Influence of Gender Role and Women's Empowerment on Couples' Fertility Experiences in Urban Society of Mashhad, Iran

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Talat Khadivzadeh

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Background and Aim: Iran has experienced a great variation in women's status in recent years. There is a little knowledge on how and why advancing gender equality and equity and the empowerment of women play a role in recent fertility reduction in the country. This study was conducted to gain insight into the role of gender beliefs and women's empowerment in the couples 'experiences of fertility in Mashhad, Iran in 2011-2012. Methods: In this exploratory qualitative study in-depth interviews were conducted with 54 purposefully selected eligible male and female participants and some key informants who lived in urban society of Mashhad. Data was collected until saturation was happened and analyzed adopting conventional content analysis approach through giving analytical codes and identification of categories using MAXqda software. Study rigor verified via prolonged engagement, thick description and validation of anlysis through member check. Results:Findings from data analysis demonstrated three major categories about the influence of women’s empowerment and gender role on fertility experiences including: 1 The couple’s understanding of gender roles 2 Women’s empowerment and changing gender roles 3 Couple’s interactions in complementary or parallel roles and 4 Fulfillment of fertility goals based on role division. Some aspects of couples' interaction including equal roles in fertility decisions, choosing and using best fit family planning method and participative child care influenced couples' fertility behavior. Women’s empowerment together with balanced gender role in the family resulted in success in attaining couple’s fertility desire. Conclusion: Managing fertility behaviors needs to understand the roles of spouses in their mutual interaction in fertility decision making and related behaviors. Imbalanced gender role in family acts as an obstacle to reach the fertility goals and leads to lower than desired fertility. Reproductive

Objective voice parameters in Colombian school workers with healthy voices

NARCIS (Netherlands)

L.C. Cantor Cutiva (Lady Catherine); A. Burdorf (Alex)

2015-01-01

textabstractObjectives: To characterize the objective voice parameters among school workers, and to identify associated factors of three objective voice parameters, namely fundamental frequency, sound pressure level and maximum phonation time. Materials and methods: We conducted a cross-sectional

THE EMPOWERMENT OF CHILDREN IN EDITH NESBIT’S THE RAILWAY CHILDREN

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Adam Anshori

2016-06-01

Full Text Available This research is aimed at describing the empowerment of children in Edith Nesbit’s The Railway Children. The problems formulated in the research will be answered in the descriptions consisting of thoughts, actions, and feelings of the main characters in the novel and presenting other characters’ comments dedicated to the main characters. The main source of the research data was Edith Nesbit’s The Railway Children. It is considered as a children’s literature. The focus of the research was events in the novel which showing the empowerment of the main characters. The data consist of thoughts, actions, and feelings of the main characters and presenting other characters’ admirable comments dedicated to the main characters. The data were analyzed inductively by using qualitative content analysis. The instrument of the research was the researcher himself. To get trustworthiness of the data, the researcher used four criteria, namely: credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability. The findings of the research showed that the novel contains of children’s empowerment, which can be divided into three categories. They are Thought Empowerment, Action Empowerment and Feeling Empowerment. As empowerment of children is considered as an important aspect in children’s story and it has great influence to enrich children’s intelligence and emotion in their growing period, The Railway Children can be categorized as a good novel.

A randomized controlled trial of stretch-and-flow voice therapy for muscle tension dysphonia.

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Watts, Christopher R; Hamilton, Amy; Toles, Laura; Childs, Lesley; Mau, Ted

2015-06-01

To investigate the effect of stretch-and-flow voice therapy on vocal function and handicap. Randomized controlled trial. Participants with primary muscle tension dysphonia were randomly assigned to experimental or control groups. Experimental participants received vocal hygiene education followed by 6 weeks of stretch-and-flow voice therapy. Control participants received vocal hygiene education only. Outcome variables consisted of a measure of vocal handicap (Voice Handicap Index [VHI]), maximum phonation time, s/z ratio, and acoustic measures. All measures were obtained at baseline prior to treatment and within 2 weeks posttreatment or at the end of the control period. The pre- to posttreatment measurement change (delta Δ) was applied to statistical analyses. A multivariate analysis of variance revealed significant group differences in pre-to-post changes on measures of VHI, maximum phonation time, and cepstral peak prominence (CPP) in connected speech and vowels (P = 0.003, 0.013, 0.025, and 0.017 respectively), with a significant reduction of VHI (Cohen's d = 1.6), increase in maximum phonation time (Cohen's d = 1.2), increase of CPP in connected speech (Cohen's d = 1.2), and increase of CPP in vowels (Cohen's d = 1.1) in the experimental group compared to the control group. This preliminary small sample randomized controlled trial found significantly greater improvement in vocal handicap, maximum phonation time, and acoustic measures of vocal function after participants received stretch-and-flow voice therapy compared to participants receiving vocal hygiene education alone. Additional research incorporating larger samples will be needed to confirm and further investigate these findings. 1b. © 2015 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.

Assessing the effect of knowledge sharing on Employees\\' Psychological Empowerment by Clarifying Mediating Role of organizational memory and learning collaborative electronic in National Library and Archives of I.R of Iran

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Davood Feiz

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Nowadays knowledge has been enumerated as a valuable and important source in libraries. Knowledge sharing among employees is necessary for libraries’ survive and goal achievement. On the other hand, empowerment people with high moral are an important factor in the libraries’ survival and life. In other words, the importance of human resources is far from the new technology and material and financial resources. As a result, this study aimed at evaluating the effect of knowledge sharing on psychological empowerment with regard to organizational memory and learning electronic participation the role of the mediator. The research data were gathered from four areas named at organizing; communicating; education and logistic by questioner. Construct validity and cronbach's alpha coefficient were used for assessing the validity and reliability respectively. To hypotheses test, structural equation modeling and Lisrel software were used. The results show that knowledge sharing has a directly significant impact on psychological empowerment. While knowledge sharing has an indirect impact on psychological empowerment, this impact via organizational memory and electronic participation learning is far greater than its direct impact. The results also show that organizational memory has not any effect on the psychological empowerment.

The relation between leadership style and empowerment on job satisfaction of nurses.

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Morrison, R S; Jones, L; Fuller, B

1997-05-01

The authors explore the relation between leadership style and empowerment and its effect on job satisfaction among the nursing staff of a regional medical center. Several empirical studies on transformational leadership-found that transformational leadership behaviors were positively related to work team success and leadership effectiveness. Transformational leadership processes have also been suggested to enhance followers' work-oriented values and shape the self-efficacies of followers. Employee empowerment may be influenced by the perception that the organization cares about its employees' well-being and that their work is valued. Empowering nurses may increase job satisfaction and improve patient care. Leadership style and empowerment influence job satisfaction among workers. All nursing department staff were invited to complete a self-report questionnaire with no identifying information. Leadership style was measured using Bass's Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, empowerment was measured with items from Spreitzer's Psychological Empowerment instrument, and job satisfaction was measured by Warr, Cook, and Wall's job satisfaction questionnaire. Both transformational and transactional leadership were positively related to job satisfaction, as was empowerment. Differences in the contributions of empowerment and leadership style in predicting job satisfaction for licensed and unlicensed workers was evident. Designing interventions that allow for the relative influence of leadership style as well as empowerment on varying classifications of nursing personnel may be a more effective strategy and have a greater effect on staff attitudes and behaviors.

El empowerment como predictor del compromiso organizacional en las Pymes

OpenAIRE

Ríos Manriquez Martha; Téllez Ramírez María del Rayo; Ferrer Guerra Julian

2010-01-01

La relación entre las variables de empowerment y compromiso organizacional ha sido un campo poco explorado desde la perspectiva organizacional. Esta investigación establece el nivel de influencia del empowerment queexperimentanloscolaboradores con respecto al compromiso hacia la organización para la cual laboran. Se utiliza como referencia un modelo generado con base en la descripción del empowerment en cuatro dimensiones: significado, competencia, autodeterminación e impacto; y del compromis...

Exit, voice and loyalty in Kenya's French bean industry: What ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

response affected their continued participation in the supermarket business. It applies Hirschman's concept of exit, voice and loyalty to assess the strategies used by ... This strategy of compliance with IFSS has since become the model in

Voice amplification as a means of reducing vocal load for elementary music teachers.

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Morrow, Sharon L; Connor, Nadine P

2011-07-01

Music teachers are over four times more likely than classroom teachers to develop voice disorders and greater than eight times more likely to have voice-related problems than the general public. Research has shown that individual voice-use parameters of phonation time, fundamental frequency and vocal intensity, as well as vocal load as calculated by cycle dose and distance dose are significantly higher for music teachers than their classroom teacher counterparts. Finding effective and inexpensive prophylactic measures to decrease vocal load for music teachers is an important aspect for voice preservation for this group of professional voice users. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of voice amplification on vocal intensity and vocal load in the workplace as measured using a KayPENTAX Ambulatory Phonation Monitor (APM) (KayPENTAX, Lincoln Park, NJ). Seven music teachers were monitored for 1 workweek using an APM to determine average vocal intensity (dB sound pressure level [SPL]) and vocal load as calculated by cycle dose and distance dose. Participants were monitored a second week while using a voice amplification unit (Asyst ChatterVox; Asyst Communications Company, Inc., Indian Creek, IL). Significant decreases in mean vocal intensity of 7.00-dB SPL (Pmusic teachers in the classroom. Copyright © 2011 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Relationship between Iranian EFL Teachers' Collective Efficacy Beliefs, Teaching Experience and Perception of Teacher Empowerment

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Baleghizadeh, Sasan; Goldouz, Elnaz

2016-01-01

The present study aimed to contribute to the current findings of the relationship between collective efficacy perceptions of EFL teachers and their perception of teacher empowerment. To this end, 147 Iranian EFL teachers from a well-known institute in Tehran participated in the study. The instruments used were two questionnaires: Collective…

Pedagogic Voice: Student Voice in Teaching and Engagement Pedagogies

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Baroutsis, Aspa; McGregor, Glenda; Mills, Martin

2016-01-01

In this paper, we are concerned with the notion of "pedagogic voice" as it relates to the presence of student "voice" in teaching, learning and curriculum matters at an alternative, or second chance, school in Australia. This school draws upon many of the principles of democratic schooling via its utilisation of student voice…

Validity of Mind Monitoring System as a Mental Health Indicator using Voice

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Naoki Hagiwara

2017-05-01

Full Text Available We have been developing a method of evaluating the mental health condition of a person based on the sound of their voice. Currently, we have applied this technology to create a smartphone application that shows the vitality and the mental activity as mental health condition indices. Using voice to measure one’s mental health condition is a non-invasive method. Moreover, this application can be used continually through a smartphone call. Unlike a periodic checkup every year, it could be used for monitoring on a daily basis. The purpose of this study is to compare the vitality index to the widely used Beck depression inventory (BDI and to evaluate its validity. This experiment was conducted at the Center of Innovation Program of the University of Tokyo with 50 employees of one corporation as participants between early December 2015 and early February 2016. Each participant was given a smartphone with our application that recorded his/her voice automatically during calls. In addition, the participants had to read and record a fixed phrase daily. The BDI test was conducted at the beginning of the experimental period. The vitality index was calculated based on the voice data collected during the first two weeks of the experiment and was considered as the vitality index at the time when the BDI test was conducted. When the vitality and the mental activity indicators were compared to BDI score, we found that there was a negative correlation between the BDI score and these indices. Additionally, these indices were a useful method to discriminate a participant of high risk of disease with a high BDI score. And the mental activity index shows a higher performance than the vitality index.

Voice Savers for Music Teachers

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Cookman, Starr

2012-01-01

Music teachers are in a class all their own when it comes to voice use. These elite vocal athletes require stamina, strength, and flexibility from their voices day in, day out for hours at a time. Voice rehabilitation clinics and research show that music education ranks high among the professionals most commonly affected by voice problems.…

A survey relation of organizational culture and organizational citizenship behavior with employees’ empowerment

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Seyyed Ebrahim Sadati

2012-10-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study is to study the relationship between organizational culture and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB with employees’ empowerment. Empowering employee’s breeds success by providing a suitable framework to utilize the necessary skills in an attempt to realize organizational goals. In this paper, four dimensions of employees’ empowerment including meaningfulness, choice, competence and impact are investigated. We also identify four dimensions for organizational culture including adaptability, consistency, involvement and mission. The paper also specifies five basic dimensions of OCB, which consists of altruism, conscientiousness, sportsmanship, courtesy and civic virtue. These basic dimensions of both independent and dependent variables construct the research conceptual model and the required data is gathered from the Tehran Municipality. This proposed study considers 180 employees who participated in our survey. The investigation of the proposed model is also performed based on the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM.