First impressions and perceived roles: Palestinian perceptions on foreign aid

This paper summarizes some results of a wider research on foreign aid that was conducted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 2010. It seeks to describe the impressions and feelings of Palestinian aid beneficiaries as well as the roles and functions they attached to foreign aid. To capture and measure local perceptions on Western assistance a series of individual in depth interviews and few focus group interviews were conducted in the Palestinian territories. The interview transcripts were processed by content analysis. As research results show — from the perspective of aid beneficiaries — foreign aid is more related to human dignity than to any economic development. All this implies that frustration with the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict inevitably embraces the donor policies and practices too.

Unity and Diversity: High School Students’ Perceptions on Multiculturalism and the Intercultural University of the State of Guerrero, Mexico

This is a mixed methods study conducted in Guerrero, Mexico, at the end of the academic year 2005-2006. The purpose of this study was to capture the perceptions held by high school students, of both indigenous and non-indigenous background, regarding the intercultural university, as well as their conceptualization of multiculturalism.

Older woman on Women's Day in Battery Park

General note: Title and date provided by Bettye Lane.

Suffragist Isola Dubic (seated) on Women's Equality Day March

General note: Title and date provided by Bettye Lane.

Betty Friedan at United Nations conference on women

General note: Title and date provided by Bettye Lane.

ERA march on Women's Equality Day with Bella Abzug

General note: Title and date provided by Bettye Lane.

ERA march on women's equality day

General note: Title and date provided by Bettye Lane.

Resident’s Perceptions on Impacts of Hosting the Guimaraes 2012 European Capital of Culture: Comparisons of the Pre- and Post Periods

Residents tend to have high expectations regarding the benefits of hosting a mega- event, in particular the creation of new infrastructure, growth in GDP and employ- ment, image enhancement and the spin-offs of attracting tourists and fostering sustainable growth of the cultural supply (Jeong and Faulkner 1996; Deccio and Baloglu 2002; Gursoy and Kendall 2006; Getz 2008; Langen and Garcia 2009; Ritchie et al. 2009; Gursoy et al. 2011; Palonen 2011). Nevertheless, they normally recognise that some costs will be incurred (Kim and Petrick 2005; Kim et al. 2006; Ritchie et al. 2009; Gursoy et al. 2011; Lee et al. 2013). So, it was not surprising that the nomination of Guimaraes, a small city in the northwest of Portugal, as one of the two European Capitals of Culture in 2012 (2012 ECOC), had raised great expectations in the local community vis- a-vis its socio-economic and cultural benefits. Our research was designed to examine the Guimar~aes residents’ perceptions of the impacts of hosting the 2012 ECOC, approached at two different times: before and after the event, to try and capture the evolution of the residents’ assessment of its impacts. From the empirical literature, we know that residents’ perceived impacts tend to change as time goes by (Kim et al. 2006; Ritchie et al. 2009; Gursoy et al. 2011; Lee et al. 2013). The data were gathered via two surveys applied to Guimaraes residents, one in 2011, before the event, and the other afterwards, in 2013. The Guimaraes residents’ assessment was thought to be essential to get an accurate appraisal of the impact of the mega-event as they were a main part of the hosting process. 2012 ECOC impacts were mainly felt by local people who, in most cases, will go on feeling them in the short and long term. The research was thought to be socially pertinent as the opinions collected through the surveys can help to prevent repeating mistakes when similar mega- events are organised in the future, and to increase the positive impacts derived from hosting them. When we talk about the social pertinence of the empirical results, we want to stress that the expertise acquired can be useful to any host city or country.

Beyond the numbers of maternal near-miss in Rwanda - a qualitative study on women's perspectives on access and experiences of care in early and late stage of pregnancy.

BACKGROUND: Rwanda has made remarkable progress in decreasing the number of maternal deaths, yet women still face morbidities and mortalities during pregnancy. We explored care-seeking and experiences of maternity care among women who suffered a near-miss event during either the early or late stage of pregnancy, and identified potential health system limitations or barriers to maternal survival in this setting. METHODS: A framework of Naturalistic Inquiry guided the study design and analysis, and the 'three delays' model facilitated data sorting. Participants included 47 women, who were interviewed at three hospitals in Kigali, and 14 of these were revisited in their homes, from March 2013 to April 2014. RESULTS: The women confronted various care-seeking barriers depending on whether the pregnancy was wanted, the gestational age, insurance coverage, and marital status. Poor communication between the women and healthcare providers seemed to result in inadequate or inappropriate treatment, leading some to seek either traditional medicine or care repeatedly at biomedical facilities. CONCLUSION: Improved service provision routines, information, and amendments to the insurance system are suggested to enhance prompt care-seeking. Additionally, we strongly recommend a health system that considers the needs of all pregnant women, especially those facing unintended pregnancies or complications in the early stages of pregnancy.

The Impact of Dementia on Women Internationally: an Integrative Review

Women are disproportionately affected by dementia, both in terms of developing dementia and becoming caregivers. We conducted an integrative review of English language literature of the issues affecting women in relation to dementia from an international perspective. The majority of relevant studies were conducted in high income countries, and none were from low-income countries. The effects of caregiving on health, wellbeing and finances are greater for women; issues facing women, particularly in low and middle-income countries need to be better understood. Research should focus on building resilience to help people adjust and cope long term.

Influence of the perception of discrimination on women's work motivation

Nowadays, despite anti-discrimination policies, women suffer frequently from a lack of consideration from their male colleagues, altering their well-being and motivation to work. More precisely, perceived personal or groupal discrimination, could have a distinct influence on work motivation. Previous studies showed that the impact on women varies in function of the type of perceived discrimination (Bourguignon et al. 2006). Based on the self-categorization and the social identity theory, work motivation is differently structured as if employees categorized themselves as individuals or as part of a group. As a result, a different impact from personal and group discrimination on work motivation is expected. Moreover, it has been proved that typical men behavior is heavily associated with competence compared to women behavior (Marchand, Saint-Charles & Corbeil, 2007). Therefore, it is hypothesized that women with more masculine traits will suffer from less perceived discrimination, and work motivation. An online survey was created in order to collect data over work motivation, perceived personal and group discrimination. The respondents were also questioned on typical men and women behavior to determine their gender-conformity. To test our hypotheses, data were collected from 57 women stemming from the labour force, aged from 21 to 63 years old. Results indicate that perceived personal discrimination was negatively related to work motivation and that perceived group discrimination was negatively correlated with masculine behavior. Thereby, our study enhances the importance of work environment, and especially discrimination, on work motivation. This research also corroborates the self-categorization and the social identity theory framework to study these issues.

With or without you: does partner satisfaction and partner-directed violence influence the presence of a partner on women's Facebook cover profile photographs?

Social network sites (SNSs) provide new opportunities for online self-presentation of millions of users. The cover profile photograph (CPP) along with written information regarding relationship status is a central component of online self-presentation, although their associations with actual romantic relationships are not clear. We investigated relationships between the presence of a current romantic partner on the CPP and the displayed relationship status and partner satisfaction, partner-directed violence and women's intrasexual competition with peers. A total of 28 % of the 158 women with a Facebook profile and being involved in a romantic relationship had their romantic partners on their CPP. As predicted, women with their partners on the CPP were more satisfied with their romantic relationship than others. Furthermore, women who did not have their partner on the CPP tended to conceal or lie in their displayed mating status suggesting that this may be a strategy how to attract another potential mate. The partner-directed violence and intrasexual competition hypotheses were not supported. Overall, the CPP and an honestly displayed relationship status is an expression of relationship satisfaction amongst women.

Evaluating the Portuguese National Reading Plan: teachers’ perceptions on the impact in schools

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10671-014-9171-y

Nurses', midwives' and key stakeholders' experiences and perceptions on requirements to demonstrate the maintenance of professional competence.

Aim: To present the qualitative findings from a study on the development of scheme(s) to give evidence of maintenance of professional competence for nurses and midwives. Background: Key issues in maintenance of professional competence include notions of self- assessment, verification of engagement and practice hours, provision of an evidential record, the role of the employer and articulation of possible consequences for non-adherence with the requirements. Schemes to demonstrate the maintenance of professional competence have application to nurses, midwives and regulatory bodies and healthcare employers worldwide. Design: A mixed methods approach was used. This included an online survey of nurses and midwives and focus groups with nurses and midwives and other key stakeholders. The qualitative data are reported in this study. Methods: Focus groups were conducted among a purposive sample of nurses, midwives and key stakeholders from January–May 2015. A total of 13 focus groups with 91 participants contributed to the study. Findings: Four major themes were identified: Definitions and Characteristics of Competence; Continuing Professional Development and Demonstrating Competence; Assessment of Competence; The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland and employers as regulators and enablers of maintaining professional competence. Conclusion: Competence incorporates knowledge, skills, attitudes, professionalism, application of evidence and translating learning into practice. It is specific to the nurse's/midwife's role, organizational needs, patient's needs and the individual nurse's/midwife's learning needs. Competencies develop over time and change as nurses and midwives work in different practice areas. Thus, role-specific competence is linked to recent engagement in practice.