The significance of this quote

Nomi’s mother is never really developed within ‘A Complicated Kindness’ but is evidenced through Nomi’s reflections on her past life, a life that took her mother and sister from her.Nomi’s mother was excommunicated from the community in which she and her family lived. Quote 1 provides insight into how the plot will unfold by way of short sharp snippets of what, why, where and how things happen in Nomi’s life and her struggle to deal with the fate bestowed upon her.The significance of this quote to the plot of the narrative is clear because it illustrates how Nomi would prefer to believe her mother was travelling which in reality cannot be so, for how can she be travelling without a passport. Such inference assumes that she is wandering aimlessly or maybe even dead – as dead as the ghost she appears to be in Nomi’s life.Only the â€Å"ID information† and a â€Å"black-and-white photo† are in the passport which again connotes a feeling of futility; we know Nomi’s mother existed or exists because the passport is provided in testimony of her being but that is all that is left of her existence other than memories for Nomi.The fact that the passport has no stamps or evidence of use helps to illustrate the life her mother lived; a life confined to one location, which was one of oppression and governed by rules. The photo provides confirmation for Nomi and readers that her mother, although living within the small community of Manitoba and possessing a passport never used, was hopeful of a better life, a life of travel and experience but a life that would never eventuate.The passport and its contents not only serve to carry forward the plot of Nomi’s story but also to provide evidence of her mother’s existence, the hope and dreams she desired and the stark reality that she was in fact now only a ghost in Nomi’s memories and reflections.He (Sheridan) said it gave him the cree ps because that was where his mom had killed herself years ago? When it happened, years ago, Sheridan’s mom went nuts. Trudie had told me and Tash that she thought Sheridan’s dad should have left town to save his mom the pain of having to pretend he was dead. She’d really loved him. They’d had a lot of fun together when he wasn’t drunk (36-37).East Village Manitoba is a place filled with pretence, double standards, and secrecy. This quote is pertinent in that it reflects the irony evident in the lives of Manitoba’s community.We are told by way of a disjointed memory reflected upon by Nomi of how people living in Manitoba, more specifically in this case Sheridan and his family, live a lie. Sheridan’s father was a drunk but drank in secrecy in fear of being excommunicated from the town; his wife therefore rather than admit the truth pretended he was dead. Living a life of deceit caused Sheridan’s mother to go insane and commit su icide.The irony of being unhappy but shamming happiness is evident throughout the novel but this quote presages the futility and despair of living that lie. Both Sheridan’s mother and father achieved nothing from their pretence except pain and downfall, which in turn led to Sheridan’s plight of having to cope with his life without either parent.Nomi’s reference to her mother telling her and her sister Tash that they were once happy and in love serves to add more sentiment to the fact; the fact that living in a town full of oppression and rigidity in turn causes people to live a life of lies that has no ending other than misery.Through use of this quote and Nomi’s reflection we realize that living in fear of excommunication, people of Manitoba are forced to secrete what they do, but in doing so they are excommunicating themselves from their families, each other and most importantly themselves.   

Space Defining Architecture

Lynda Nwankwo Humanities 101-011 11/9/2012 SPACE DEFINING ARCHITECTURE An average population of the world views space and structure through the visual elements provided. Brick, tree, corridor, door, window, trim and carpet are only a few of these visual elements. All of the elements combine to allow us to experience a space. These experiences should be the designer’s goal when conceiving the space in question. Some spaces are created to encourage social interaction while others are designed to encourage silence and reflection.Think about the space that you are in now. If you are in an office, most likely it is institutionalized with a nominal amount of light and large capacity for production. Let’s say you are in a municipal park. Most likely you are relaxed and enjoying time away from the office and other stresses of life. It is the purpose of this paper to explore the relationships between these elements and how you experience a space. â€Å"Behind all seen things li es something vaster; everything is but a path, a portal or a window opening on something other than itself. ? Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Wind, Sand, and Stars :Harcourt Brace Javanovich, New York, 1967 We spend our lives inside buildings, our thoughts shaped by their walls. Nevertheless, there’s surprisingly little research on the psychological implications of architecture. How do different spaces influence cognition? Is there an ideal kind of architectural structure for different kinds of thinking? To begin I would like to define architecture and explain why it is important to design with experience in mind.Here at New Jersey Institute Of Technology, it is engrained into architecture students that our definition of architecture is the following: â€Å"Architecture is the blend of science, art and technology to provide a meaningful interaction between an audience and the space that they occupy. † Color can have a large variety of effects on the occupants of a space. As a designer conceives a space, the color should be used as a function of the space as much as the walls or ceilings. Yellow, for instance is a color that tends to grab attention more than other colors.This would make it a good color to use in corridors to show occupants where to go next. Since it also tends to increase metabolism, yellow should also be used in dining spaces such as restaurants. Along with color, spatial qualities can play a large role in how we experience a space. At the moment, I think we’re only beginning to grasp the relevant variables of design. Christian Jarrett, for instance, highlights a new study on curved versus rectilinear furniture. The study itself was simple: subjects viewed a series of rooms filled with different kinds of couches and lounge chairs.Needless to say, we’re only beginning to grasp how the insides of buildings influence the inside of the mind. For now, it’s safe to say that tasks involving accuracy and focus – say , copyediting a manuscript, or doing some algebra – are best suited for short spaces with red walls. In contrast, tasks that require a little bit of creativity and abstract thinking benefit from high ceilings, lots of windows and bright blue walls that match the sky. The point is that architecture has real cognitive consequences, even if we’re just beginning to learn what they are.

Motions

MACHINE ELEMENTS 2 Cams ? Cam is a link having an irregular surface or groove that imparts motion to a follower ? Cams are very important and frequently occurring elements in many types of machines – especially AUTOMATIC MACHINES ? Cams are the heart of such automatic devices as automatic devices as automatic machine tools, record changers, mechanical calculators, cash registers, and many other devices. Types of Cams: Motions Used for Cam Followers: ? The motion of the follower is of primary interest in the analysis of existing cams or in the design of new cams. It is easier to analyze the motion of cam followers if their motion is plotted as a graph often referred to as DISPLACEMENT DIAGRAM A. Displacement Diagram B. Motions that are most commonly used: 1. Uniform Velocity (straight line) motion – UVM 2. Simple Harmonic Motion – SHM 3. Uniformly Accelerated motion (Parabolic Motion) – UAM or PM 4. Modified Uniform-Velocity Motion – MUVM a. Arc meth od – MUVM-Arc b. Uniform Acceleration Method – MUVM-UAM 5. Cycloidal Motion – CM A. Uniform Velocity Motion (Straight Line Motion)If the follower is to move with uniform velocity, its displacement must be the same for equal units of time. Its curve in the displacement diagram, therefore, is a STRAIGHT LINE. Example 1: Lay out the displacement diagram for a cam follower that is to have the following motions: Dwell 30O (at rest) Rise 2 inches in 90O (uniform velocity) Dwell 30O Fall 2 inches in 60O (uniform velocity) Dwell 150O B. Simple Harmonic Motion (SHM) As a point moves around the circumference of a circle with a constant velocity, its projection on the diameter of the circle moves with simple harmonic motion.How to plot in the displacement diagram? Example 2: Lay out the displacement diagram for a cam follower that is to have the following motions: Rise 2 inches in 120O (SHM) Dwell 30O Fall 1 inch in 90O (SHM) Dwell 30O Fall 1 inch in 60O (SHM) Dwell 30O C. Uniformly Accelerated Motion (Parabolic Motion) ? A motion of uniform or constant acceleration, often called parabolic motion because a graph of its equation ( s = at2 / 2 ) is a parabola. ? It is motion in which the displacement taking place in each successive interval of time proportional to the square of the time.How to plot in the displacement diagram? Example 3: Layout the displacement diagram for a cam follower that is to have the following motions: Rise 2 inches in 120O (uniform acceleration and deceleration motion) Dwell 30O Fall 1 inch in 90O (uniform acceleration and deceleration motion) Dwell 30O Fall 1 inch in 90O (uniform acceleration and deceleration motion) D. Modified Uniform Velocity Motion a) Arc Method: This method consists merely in introducing arcs at the beginning and at the end of the displacement period.The size of the arcs is arbitrary, but they are usually drawn with a radius equal to one half the displacement. The arcs are drawn first to an indefinite len gth then a straight line is drawn tangent to both arcs. b) Uniform Acceleration Method: This method consists in introducing short periods of uniform acceleration or deceleration at both ends of the displacement period. D. Cycloidal Motion ? If a circle rolls along a straight line without slipping, a point on its circumference traces a curve that is called a cycloid. How to plot in the displacement diagram?In the figure below shows how such motion is laid out in a displacement diagram. Line AB is drawn and is extended to some point such as C. A circle is drawn at C whose circumference is equal to the displacement s or whose diameter is equal to s over constant pi. The circumference of this circle is divided into a number of parts corresponding to the number of divisions along the horizontal scale. The points around the circle are projected to the vertical center line of the circle and then parallel to the line AB to the corresponding vertical lines in the displacement diagram. â€⠀Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€- [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] In this construction, it should be noted that the diameter of the semicircle is equal to the follower rise and that the number of divisions around the semicircle agrees with the number of divisions along the time axis (angle of cam rotation). [pic] [pic] The figure at the left shows the displacement, s of a falling object compares with arbitrary time units [pic] a) First method (Figure @ the right)In laying out this type of motion in a displacement diagram, a given displacement is divided into two halves – the first half is uniformly accelerated, and the second half is uniformly retarded motion. It is therefore, necessary that the horizontal distance involved in the total displacement be divided into an even number of divisions. [pic] b) Second Method (Figure @ the left) Figure as shown, shows an alternative method of constructing this type of motion. In this case, the half displacement is divided into equal sized divisions corresponding to the number of horizontal divisions. [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic]

Bicyclists and motorcyclists should be required by law t Essay

Bicyclists and motorcyclists should be required by law t - Essay Example When motorcycles and bicycles are involved in any accidents, the physical body of the human could be injured particularly the head or the brain part, leading to death and even if an individual survives, the life will be a living hell. This brings into the picture the importance of helmets and how helmets could save a person from death or from becoming a ‘Vegetable’. This being in argument, the other is how many motorcyclists and bicyclist are driving without helmets with a lot of comfort, and how helmets could cause accidents. Thus, this paper will focus on the role of helmet and how it can be a lifesaving tool on one side and how it is not such a lifesaving tool and could give discomforts on other side. Helmet worn by motorcyclists and bicyclists brings in a lot of advantages and importantly saves a lot of lives. That is, as helmets are like a strong armor for the head, any strong and dangerous impacts during an accident can be absorbed by the helmets. In most of the accidents and incidents involving motorcycles and bicycles, the riders will separate from the vehicle and the head of that individual will normally make a strong impact on other strong objects like the other vehicles, roadside objects and even the strong road. That impact could damage or break the skull leading to the damage to the brain resulting in death. Motorcyclists usually separate from the motorcycle at some time during a crash. It stands to reason that protective apparels like helmets are far more likely to be effective than protective equipment attached to the motorcycle In the event of a crash, no existing strategy or safety equipment offers protection comparable to a FMVSS 218 compliant helmet. (NHTSA). Helm eted riders have shown significantly lower injury impacts in all types of lesions in the body particularly in the head. A recent analysis from the Crash Outcomes Data Evaluation Systems (CODES) from six states demonstrated that helmets were 35 percent

A contract to enter into a contract is not enforceable. when contract Essay

A contract to enter into a contract is not enforceable. when contract is subject to Negotiation, it is too uncertain to have a binding force - Essay Example ses the Courts have generally demonstrated a tendency to render a decision on the basis of interpretation of such agreements, taking into account all the circumstances of the case. In the case of contracts where the price for a service or transaction is to be determined, this element of uncertainty has become even more relevant. The extent to which Courts have allowed recoveries in some cases has been determined by the extent to which damages may be suffered by one party, but when there is uncertainty introduced into the contract or pre-contractual agreement, such recoveries may be difficult. In the case of Courtney and Fairbairn Ltd v Tolaini Bros(Hotels) Ltd2 the appellants were property developers and had secured finances for the defendants to develop a hotel. Prior to the appellants securing the monies, they had entered into negotiations with the defendants; there was a written agreement between them that the defendants would negotiate to use the services of the appellant to develop the hotel property. However, when the appellant actually secured the finances, the defendants went ahead and hired different property developers rather than using the services of the appellants. This led to the legal action. Lord Denning, in providing the judgment on the case, pointed out that there had been some preliminary steps taken by both parties as an act of good faith in pursuance of their negotiations. Mr. Courtney of the appellants found a person willing to finance the property development, while the defendant Mr. Toliani appointed a quantity surveyor with a view to negotiating the price with Mr. Courtney. There was a written agreement between them; however Lord Denning did not equate this to a contract. He held that there was no actionable contract between the two parties because the agreement between them was only an agreement â€Å"to negotiate fair and reasonable contract sums†, and no agreement could be found â€Å"on the price or on any method by which the price was to

Using ACE to Improve Communication Results Case Study

Using ACE to Improve Communication Results - Case Study Example I would also issues a direct answer to Q2 and inform the employees that, attending the workshop is very essentials because the management plans to revise the working procedures and those that fail to adhere to the new working conditions might be laid off. The internal website is reliable and covers a wider audience as opposed to using the Memo. The information communication will reach to the employees present and those that are absent. In addition, the information provided is detailed and the employee’s questions and objections are responded to before even they ask them. In essence, the information provided is clear and can be reviewed from time to time, as opposed to using the Memos which are issued once. Even though, most companies may prefer using company’s internal website in communication, it is not a reliable communication channel. Some employees may not get a chance to visit the website. Together with that, those that are not within the company and do not have an access to the internet may not get the information. In addition, in case the websites breaks down, the communication also breaks down and it becomes difficult to reach out to everyone. It is an efficient way of communicating to each employee since the management is aware that every person is aware of the meeting held. The employees prepare in advance and lack an excuse of failing to attend. It is a clear indication that the meeting is vital and intendance is least expected. It is ineffective and one is not quite certain to reach out to all the employees. There is likelihood that the absent employees may not get the information. It is expensive considering that memos are to be printed and issued to all the employees. In connection to that, it is tiresome to address a memo to each and every employee within the company. The information sent via the email is detailed and responds to the possible questions and objections that the employees might have. Also, employees have a chance of asking

Argumentative research paper arguing how negativly the meadia

Argumentative arguing how negativly the meadia influences the masses during times of war - Research Paper Example Yet, both politics and journalism make claims to a standard of objectivity that often hides the political bias in the construction of â€Å"social fact†. It is through shared communication methods such as literature, newspapers, the internet, tv news, etc. that people in modern societies form their views on complex political issues that may affect the lives of millions. Nowhere is this more exemplified than in issues of international relations or foreign policies, and the conduct of war – which has led nations across the world into millions of deaths and untold destruction primarily through the dissemination of political views and ideologies throughout large populations that permitted organized military violence by the State. In general, the television news and newspapers frame the discourse by publishing a type of collective debate between opposing viewpoints as they relate to current events and pertinent issues of social governance in a democracy. As Noam Chomsky writ es in â€Å"The Culture of Terrorism,† "The leveling of discourse within the ideological system is an extremely important matter. Part of the genius of American democracy has been to ensure that isolated individuals face concentrated state and private power alone, without the support of an organizational structure that can assist them in thinking for themselves or entering into meaningful political action, and with few avenues for public expression of fact or analysis that might challenge approved doctrine...adherence to doctrinal truth confers substantial reward: not only acceptance within the system of power and a ready path to privilege, but also the inestimable advantage of freedom from the onerous demands of thought, inquiry and argument. Conformity frees one from the burden of evidence, and rational argument is superfluous while one is marching in an approved parade.† (Chomsky, 1988) The media act as a â€Å"fourth branch† of government, essential to the he althy functioning of a democracy systematically. Minority political groups may be forced to resort to other means to organize their viewpoints and distribute them popularly if they cannot gain mass-media access, but there is little practical guarantee that minority communication channels can compete with mass-media communication networks that dominate the public construction of issues debated in modern societies politically. This is one way that political hegemony may operate in repressing views unfavorable to the status quo of hierarchical power distributions. The media never covers a war neutrally with just the facts. They report stories or fabricate ones that they believe will gain ratings or sell papers. This is the definition of â€Å"Yellow Journalism,† and it can be seen historically as the way that the public was rallied to war, from the early days of Theodore Roosevelt’s â€Å"Rough Rider† raids on Cuba to the modern conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. F rom the establishment of the news empire by William Randolph Hearst, mass-media news sources increasingly pursued a centralized, corporate model of operations that mirror in many ways the development of the superpowers themselves. The Hearst papers had the budget required to â€Å"

Explore the ways in which Bernard ODonoghue presents the sense of loss Coursework

Explore the ways in which Bernard ODonoghue presents the sense of loss in Round the Campfire and consider to what extent it is typical of ODonoghues poetry - Coursework Example Apart from highlighting the sense of loss, O’Donoghue appeared to coil the memories around the theme of mortality, which is a common feature of his poems. The lines that highlighted the weight of the loss included â€Å"she darted laughing, From the van, dodging hooves, Better than anyone. She sang Dingle Bay all down the MI†.3In the second stanza, the poet introduces the reader to the memories of her daughter, and the memories that made the loss extremely painful. The memories highlighted the weight of loss included her liveliness, and the joy of the moments spent together, during the day that she died. The sense of loss is demonstrated through the poet’s ability to reflect the theme of loss in the style of writing and also the contents of the poem. After introducing the reader to the memories that made the loss of the daughter a source of pain, the poet explains the events leading to her death, through stating that â€Å"she died, I couldn’t say†.4The poet expresses the unexplainable nature of the events leading to the death, and then moved ahead to the last memories about the daughter in the fourth stanza.5At the fifth stanza O’Donoghue added some beauty to the memories related to the last moments, including the properties that did not have identified owners.6 At the sixth stanza, the poem reinforced the sense of loss, by reminding the reader about the memories that lingered in his mind about the daughter. The poetic style gave the indication that O’Donoghue is emphasizing the themes of lost memories and mortality. The poet makes reference to real and figurative things, including dodging hooves, which could be an indication of her movement and pace as she left the van, during the last moments they spent together. The poet could probably tell about the causes of the death of the daughter, and also a form of

Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 5

Economics - Essay Example This is known as satisficing. If the firm wants to maximize its profits it will try to equate marginal revenue and marginal cost. Marginal cost refers to the increase in the total costs of a firm caused by increasing its output by one extra unit. From the viewpoint of economists, firms normally produce at a point at which the marginal costs are positive. Marginal revenue refers to the receipt from selling an extra unit of output. On the other hand, when the firms go for satisficing the managers of a firm need to make enough profit in order to satisfy the demands of their shareholders. Satisficing or profit satisficing denotes the managerial behavior that attempts to achieve some level profits. Once the satisfactory level of profits has been achieved, the managers are free to maximize their rewards that can be available from the particular company. All the markets are in equilibrium when the demand and supply are equal. Equilibrium or equilibrium price refers to the price level of a particular commodity at which quantity demanded equals quantity supplied. Here the price and quantity demanded are having a negative relation. The variables which are negatively related, for example price and quantity demanded, have an inverse relation. Here the price is a determinant and the quantity is determined. An increase in the price leads to a fall in the quantity demanded and vice versa. There are many inversely related variables in economics, for example rate of interest and borrowing, economic growth and balance of payment, unemployment and inflation etc, that is an increase in the rate of interest, an increase in the economic growth and an increase in the unemployment will cause a fall in borrowing, balance of payment and unemployment respectively. The actual market always tends towards the equilibrium price where demand and supply curves cut each other.

Any topic of your choosing from the study of law enforcement Research Paper

Any topic of your choosing from the study of law enforcement - Research Paper Example As such, they often apprehend criminals who are a menace to innocent citizens (Goldstein 12). This sparks hatred between the criminal gangs and police officers. In this situation, criminal gangs decree that police officers will be vulnerable when they are off work. This is partially owing to the protection from other officers while at work. Similarly, police officers are vulnerable when they are off work since they are not armed (Stering 33). This makes them an easy target. A number of cases have been reports where police officers are attacked at their place of residence. This is a challenge they face owing to their involvement in law enforcement. They are targeted since they limit the activities of criminal gangs. Police officers are considered one of the most stressed government officers. The stress levels in police officers increase owing to the indulgence in their work. They are required to work for long hours since they have to protect the nation throughout day and night (Forbes , 54). This leads to limited hours of sleep. This affects their lives, even when they are off duty. For example, their sleeping pattern is frequently distracted owing to the scope of their work. At times, the police officers are required to report on duty at night. As such, they often feel fatigued and tired. This could affect their family life. In most cases, police officers have families, which need their support and care. Consequentially, with such working conditions, the family support and care is jeopardized. The families have to persevere with such conditions, as it is almost impossible to rectify such a situation. In bizarre instances, it leads to neglect of the family since they do not have ample time with the family. The family could feel neglected since the police officer, who has a family is hardly present for the family. This will increase the stress levels of the police officers as they could have a guilty conscience. Police officers will often have stress concerning th eir job. As such, they would like to relieve their stress with the easiest possible means. Apparently, controlling stress to manageable levels is an indulging activity that needs time and dedication (Stering 19). For example, visiting a therapist will consume time and finances. As such, they revert to using alcohol and drugs. This behavior starts as a genuine solution to an incumbent problem. However, it exceeds to become a problem in itself. When the officers are drunk or high on drugs, they will have ease as they have solved some of their problems. Unfortunately, they get used to the behavior of using drugs and abusing alcohol most of the times they are stressed. This leads to addiction. This further deteriorates the situation as they depend on alcohols and drugs in solving and relieving their stress. As a fact, solving such a situation will require intervention from concerned parties. Bizarrely, some of the concerned parties do not have the time to reflect on the problems of the police officers (Raymond, 41). As such, they will continue with such behaviors. This ruins their life especially when they are off duty. For example, they will have to look for additional finances to sustain their alcohol and drug consumption. This will lead to uncouth behavior including corruption. Police officers are often dispatched to places marred with chaos, war and fighting between members of a society (Goldstein 23). At times, this is not a welcoming scene. Police

School of Health Ethics Form Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

School of Health Ethics Form - Essay Example The research paper, therefore, is about a survey of a representative of a physician in the United States who can be deemed to care for patients nearing their deaths so as to assess the frequency in which request for assisted euthanasia or suicide and compliance with such requests (Atwood-Gailey, 2003: 2). Euthanasia is said is said to have historical rooting from the Greek language meaning â€Å"good health†. However, over time, the meaning has evolved to mean that one person knowingly leads to the death of the other who is considered terminally or seriously ill and can not be saved from the situation. The main emphasis attached this mercy killing is always to bring to an end the suffering of the later like for example patients diagnosed with bone cancer among other ailments. Within the country, the procedure for taking an away life in order to end is not allowed in all the fifty states, however countries like Netherlands and Belgium practice as it is legal under the law. In s pite of euthanasia not being legal within the country, physician-assisted suicide is legal and being practiced and being practiced in different states within the country. Examples of states practicing physician-assisted suicide are Washington, Oregon, and Montana (Lo, 2009). However, the two are always similar but the main difference depends on who administers the medicine to bring a patient life to an end (Mcdougall, Gorman & Roberts, 2008). In physician-assisted suicide, a physician plays a crucial role in creating lethal medications for the patients, but the medications are always used by the patient at his own time and comfort, however, this is the opposite of euthanasia because the physician here takes an active role in ending a patient’s life.

Given Danziger’s Claims Essay Example for Free

Given Danziger’s Claims Essay Given Danziger’s claims about ‘methodomorphic theories’ and given what you know of quantitative and qualitative research methods and psychology in general, what do you think would be the obstacles to attempt to break free of the ‘methodological circle’? Research methods in modern psychology offer a variety of methodological options for researchers to utilise. However, there are issues associated with all methods. This essay will examine problems associated with the ‘methodological cycle’, such as the monopolisation of statistical methods in social sciences. These ‘issues’ continue to be common practice in psychological research and present obstacles to moving towards a less rigid, constrained method of working. This will be followed by exploring approaches that move forward, towards a more fluid and inclusive method of empirical psychology, such as Theoretical Sampling in Grounded Theory and Relational metatheory. Danziger coined the term ‘methodological circle’, asserting that many psychological researchers adopt methods based on certain assumptions about the subject matter, which in turn â€Å"only produce observations which must confirm these assumptions† (Danziger, 1998, p 1). These assumptions continue to be common practice in current psychological research, and pose as a barrier to moving away from the ‘methodological circle’. Psychology as Pure Science Kuhn (1962) described ordinary science as involving discussion of problematic truth claims and is carried out within the context of implicitly shared metatheoretical frameworks; on the other hand â€Å"paradigms† involve discussion that challenges these metatheoretical frameworks themselves. Psychology operates within both of these frameworks. ‘Ordinary science’, also known as Scientism, involves uncritically accepting that science is both highly distinct from, and superior to, common sense and methods for identifying cultural patterns. However, factors that a social scientist may wish to study do involve facets that are not static and are defined by the context in which these facets operate. An example of this could be trauma. Trauma is viewed by individuals in Western society as a concept which individuals or a collective may suffer after a disrupting or distressing event. However, in less developed societies, such as in Rwanda which suffered mass genocide, no instances of trauma are reported (Alexander et al, 2004). Such examples highlight the problems presented by adopting a purely scientific (positivist) approach to a social phenomenon. In addition to this, it must be remembered that even though research will always endeavour to be as objective as possible they will, ultimately, use their common-sense knowledge of how social phenomena operate in order to define and measure these variables for precise investigation (Silverman, 1993). Psychologists who work purely in line with Scientism make the error to totally remove itself from common sense, rather than acknowledging and working with it, adopting, say, a more constructivist approach e.g. Conversation Analysis. Kock (1973) sums this up assumption beautifully by saying â€Å"The entire subsequent history of psychology can be seen as a ritualistic endeavor to emulate the forms of science in order to sustain the delusion that it already is a science (Kock, 1973, p. 66). Dependence on statistics The use of statistical methods in psychology can be said to have become â€Å"institutionalized† (Danziger, 1998, p. 4). According to Danziger, such institutionalization presents 3 main problems: 1. It assumes that statistical conclusions are the only means of providing reliable and valid results for interpreting and developing theory; 2. It asserts that certain rules and models are constant, and cannot be amended or updated by new evidence; 3. it postulates that methodology must lead theory formation, and not the other way round. Such facets create a rigid environment, which restricts ways in which the social scientist can explore social phenomena which focuses on interactions between figures rather than meanings of interactions. The importance of the meaning behind words was acknowledged as far back as Freud, who stated â€Å"In medics you are accustomed to see things†¦in psychoanalysis, alas, everything is different†¦Words were originally magic and to this day words have retained much of their ancient power†¦Words provoke affects and are in general the means of mutual influence among men† (Freud, 1918, p.12). This statement emphasises the importance in not just, say, overt behaviour in the amount of words one uses (i.e. numerical data) in an interview, but also what one says and the meaning behind those words (i.e. qualitative data). Artificial settings to measure real life Psychology is the science of the real life, cannot be manipulated in artificial models. In its attempt to become a ‘pure’ science, psychological research methods tend to prefer to use controlled, experimental procedures, where one variable is directly manipulated by another variable, controlling for any other influencing factors. While such methods offer detailed and reliable statistical information, details of social, political, economic, and historical contexts can be overlooked (Waitzkin, 1990). The variety within psychology Psychology is a broad discipline with a variety of approaches such as Social and Cognitive Psychology. Social Psychology looks at qualitative interactions in the real world between people, whereas Cognitive Psychology examines the thought processes involved in individual reasoning. The former cannot be effectively manipulated in a controlled laboratory experiment, whereas the latter can be. If one attempts to artificially create and conduct a social experiment which uses solely statistics as a method of obtaining and interpreting results, one will miss the rich data that can be gained through qualitative measurement, looking at meanings and interpretations. A degree of flexibility is required in theory construction and method development, taking care to acknowledge how applied the science is and the vast array of methodological procedures to adopt. Top down vs. bottom up When conducting empirical investigation in psychology, the research question should lead the methodology, not the other way round. However, with the dominant quantitative method, researchers tend impose theories on data and see whether or not the data supports the theory. Upon these results, the researchers either accept or reject their hypotheses, rather than further exploring any discrepancies. Alternatively, researchers who adopt a qualitative method allow the data drive the theory and design models and theory from data. This is unpopular with many as it can oversimplifying complex social phenomena. As we can see, both designs appear to be poloarised, with little or no room for convergence. Deductive vs. Inductive Another assumption that perpetuates the ‘methodological circle’ is the belief that quantitative methods always must use a hypothetico-deductive approach and qualitative methods an inductive approach. Again, this restricts the way in which researchers can work with their subject matter, and rather than adopting an antithetical approach, researchers should endeavor to focus on the rationale of the study and the research question. Realism vs. Idealism In a similar vain to the short discussion above, there is the determinist assumption that all quantitative researchers are realists and qualitative researchers are idealist in their approach. This assumption enforces more restrictions on the way research would be carried out. Indeed quantitative research could do well to accept more subjective and individual attitudes, as qualitative methods could with more objective, measurable approaches. Moving forward Acknowledging the obstacles above, I will now explore ways in which psychology can move forward, away from the ‘methodological circle’ towards an approach that recognises and embraces both ‘quantitative’ and ‘qualitative’ virtues. Such an approach should not be concerned with paradigmatic purism but more concerned with identifying effective ways of conceptualising and discovering answers to the research questions. Grounded Theory -Theoretical saturation and sampling When using Grounded Theory, researchers use Theoretical sampling until they reach ‘Theoretical saturation’, where researchers collect data â€Å"until (a) no new or relevant data seem to emerge regarding a category, (b) the category is well developed in terms of its properties and dimensions demonstrating variation, and (c) the relations among categories are well established and validated.† (Strauss Corbin, 1998, p. 212). Such a fluid and flexible approach provides a useful means in theory construction because it builds the theory as it evolves from incoming data, offering an alternate perspective on how the results are interpreted than the restrictive positivist, deductive approaches. Relational metatheory Relational metatheory offers a relational dialectical perspective in which interpretation (a more quantitative, positivist approach) and observation (a more qualitative, construstivist approach) are both acknowledged and used (Overton, 1998; 2003). Relationism metatheory acknowledges that there is interconnection between the person, culture and biology (Hase, 2000), which is a much more fluid and explorative method then a split metatheory (using only quantitative or qualitative). This results in more complex, self creating, self organising, self regulating and adaptive systems that function and develop in relation with sociocultural constructs. In conclusion, there is a range of obstacles researchers encounter when attempting to break free of the ‘methodological circle’. These include both theoretical considerations such as theory construction and practical considerations such as the dependence on statistics. In order to move away from these imposed restrictions, researchers should consider adopting a more inclusive, flexible approach such as Grounded Theory and Relational Metatheory. As Danzgier concludes we must overcome these problems associated with the ‘methodological circle’ in psychological research; if not â€Å"theory testing in psychology will be a matter of choosing among different versions of a theoretical position, the fundamental features of which are in fact beyond dispute.† (Danziger, 1985, p.13). References Alexander, J. C., Eyerman, R., Giesen, B., Smelser, N. J., Sztompka, P. (2004) Cultural Trauma and Collective Identity, University of California Press, CA Danziger, K. (1985) The methodological imperative in psychology. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 15, 1-13 Freud, S. (1918) The Complete Introductionary Lectures on Psychoanalsis, Alden Press, Oxford Hase, S. (2000) ‘Mixing methodologies in research’, NCVER conference, Coffs Harbour, April. Koch, S. (1963) Psychology: A Study Of a Science, (Koch, S. (Ed.). (1959-1963), McGraw-Hill, New York Kuhn, T. S. (1962) The structure of scientific revolutions. University of Chicago Press, Chicago Overton, W. F. (2012) Paradigms in Theory Construction, (Eds L’Abate, L.) Springer; US. Silverman, D. (1993) â€Å"Beginning Research†. Interpreting Qualitative Data. Methods for Analysing Talk, Text and Interaction, Sage Publications, Londres Strauss, A. L. Corbin, J. M. (1998) Basics of qualitative research: techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory, Sage Publications, US Waitzkin, H. (1990) On Studying the Discourse of Medical Encounters, Medical Care. 28:6, 473-487

The Media During Communal Riots

The Media During Communal Riots Communalism is a pervasive phenomenon in the public life of India and communal riots are the ugliest expression (Krishna, 1985). Communal riots have become an integral part of communalism in India. An event can be classified as a communal riot on two grounds. Firstly, if there is violence. Secondly, if two or more communally identified groups confront each other or the members of the other group, at some point during the violence (Varshney, 2002). The reason behind such communal riots can be superficial and trivial; though deep within there are political reasons behind such events (Varshney, 2002). India is not new to communal riots; the first recorded riots were in the year 1714, 1715, 1716 and 1750 in Ahmedabad (Rajeshwari, 2004). Bipin Chandra in his book Communalism in Modern India writes that the maximum communal riots in India took place during 1923-26. Communal riots in India are not spontaneous and are rarely due to any religious animosity. They usually arise due to conflicting political interests, which are often linked to economic interests (Rajeshwari, 2004). During the 1960s till the late 1980s, the local political and economic factors played a significant role in instigating the riots in major parts of India (Engineer, 2002). However, since then the emergence of Hindtuva1 politics has been the major cause of communal riots (Engineer, 2002). The role of news media in reportage of communal riots in India is a major area of concern. Everything is reported in the media, so are communal riots. The role of the news media has grown in recent years, perhaps because of the centrality of the news media in communal violence and conflicts (Wolfsfeld, 2007). Even the most casual of observers wont deny the increasing significance of news media under such crisis situations. The influence of the news media in peace processes is more subtle, in part because what is not reported in the media is in some ways more important than what is reported. This paper would look at the way Indian media covered and reported the two most horrific incidents of communal violence in India the 1984 Sikh riots and the 2002 Gujarat (Godhra) riots. On both occasions the media drew criticisms. The paper would discuss if the media has been objective in covering both riots and also as to what should be medias role in coverage of such future communal riots in India, if any. The Changing Face of News Media The global media sphere is changing with each passing second. New communications technologies such as camera enabled mobile phones and laptop computers are giving journalists an opportunity to gather and disseminate information with normal ease. This digitization of the news industry has led to compression of time and space and thus enabled us to see news and images of conflicts as and when they happen. The images broadcasted in our living rooms are not only informing the global audience of the horrific happenings but might also instigate further violence in an existing violent situation. As a result, the medias reporting of a conflict situation has become as central to the unfolding of the conflict itself. With the evolution in technology the tyranny of distance might have reduced but various hidden realities and factors still affect the reporting of conflicts. This is proved by a study done by Virgil Hawkings, who explains that the conflict in Africa which has been in the post-Cold war world responsible for nearly 90% of the worlds war deaths suffered a complete media blackout. Similarly, the coverage of the massive war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which resulted in over one million deaths in the year 2000, was almost insignificant (Hawkins, 2008). Since the media has a powerful ability to reach large number of people. It ignites the opinion building process and impacts the political decisions and audience reactions in the society. This eventually shapes the course of prevalent crises and conflicts (Ballantine, 2003). The Media, Religion and Politics With the planes hitting the Twin Towers on 11 September, 2001 the relationship between media and religion changed forever. Karim (2003) suggested that religion would become an important topic for the media and the way media covers events would be influenced by the religious undertones. It is arguable if the world and its religions have changed or not, but the media coverage of the same surely has. Within India, religion has a large impact on the personal lives of millions of people. The country practices almost every other religion known to the world and this is one of the most important facets of the country, so is politics. The politicians play on the religious issues every now and then, and media is used as the platform. The politicians communicate with the common mass through the mass media. The way in which we know and find about our politicians is through the media. It is the media that serves as the main channel of communication between the politicians and the public. Religion is one of the subjects in India which the politicians intelligently use to their advantage. Academic literature has covered the representation of conflict in religion as well as media and religion but not much has been researched on media, religion and conflict situations in context with each other, especially within an environment like India. It would be difficult to understand the relationship between religion, its construction, presentation and conflict situations covered in the media, without some reference to the broader political context within which it takes place, because in a nation like India, religion is certainly driven by political motives. In order to understand the role media plays and should play during communal clashes in India, let us analyze the two worst communal riots India has ever seen the 1984 Sikh riots and the 2002 Gujarat riots. The 1984 Sikh Riots 4.1 The Events On 31st of October 1984, the Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards. What followed was a complete mayhem and it led to a lethal anti-Sikh riots in New Delhi, India. Sikh homes were systematically singled out in the capital and brutally destroyed (Tatla, 2006). The Sikhs were hounded, tyres were put around their neck, and petrol doused on their faces and bodies set ablaze to brutal death (Mohanka, 2005). More than 3,000 Sikhs were killed in New Delhi itself. Two hundred Gurudwaras, the place where Sikhs worship, were burnt down and many Sikh owned shops were looted (Bedia, 2009). The situation worsened when the newly elected Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, the son of Indira Gandhi was quoted, When a big tree falls, the ground beneath is sure to rumble. This gave a sense as if Rajiv Gandhi was giving a boost to the killers who were assassinating hundreds of Sikhs in the streets of New Delhi (Mohanka, 2005). Mrs. Gandhis assassinators were avenging the killings of Sikhs during the Operation Bluestar. In the June of 1984, Mrs. Gandhi, wanted to flush out few terrorists, led by Jamail Singh Bhindranwale, who were hiding in the precincts of the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine for Sikhs in India. On the 3rd of June, 1984 a 36 hour curfew was imposed in the Sikh dominated state of Punjab. All methods of communication and travel were suspended. Electricity supplies were interrupted, a total black out was created and Punjab was cut off from India and rest of the world (Brar, 1992). On the night of 5th of June, the Indian Army under the command of Major Gen. Kuldeep Singh Brar stormed into the Golden Temple. By the morning of the 7th of June the Indian Army had full control of the temple. The militant leaders were killed in the two day battle but along with it a large number of pilgrims, civilians and children also died (Ahmed, 1996). The Sikh community were agitated. Their holiest shrine was turned into a bloody battlefield and innocent lives were lost. Saran Singh, a retired bureaucrat and a famous member of the Sikh community in India quotes It was sacrilege to send troops inside, open fire and in the process kill innocent devotees gathered to observe the martyrdom (Mohanka, 2005). From June to September 1984 most members of the Sikh community nursed a festering wound only to blurt out in Indira Gandhis assassination. 4.2 The Indian Medias Coverage of Operation Bluestar and the Riots Media by its nature plays an extremely important role for any socio-political situation irrespective of the boundary it holds (Mohanka, 2005). The medias role in the riots of 1984 is an interesting case. Scholars believe that media can play a role in focussing on a cause much before it takes an ugly turn. In the case of Punjab in 1984, the local media was not supportive of the Sikh causes. Moreover, since the beginning of the problems in Punjab, the government had a strict control on the media and imposed a heavy censorship. Since independence until the invasion of cable television in India, the electronic media had served as the mouthpiece of the government (Das, 2009). Similar was the role of the electronic media in Punjab during the riots. The Government had such tight control over the media that the foreign correspondents trying to capture the horrific events were not even allowed in the local land. The Indian Government acted as a strict visible gatekeeper and made it impossible to approve journalist visas for foreign correspondents. The events of the 1984 riots thus suffered not only from biased media coverage but also selective coverage which projected one sided selected perspective (Das, 2009). The media blackout during the Operation Bluestar is a prime example of the same. The day before the actual invasion by the Indian Army, the Government ordered all press out of the state and restricted press coverage in Punjab. The press was allowed only a week later on special organised guided tours. The aftermath was later described by the press, as involving a small gang of criminals disliked by the majority of Sikhs and Indians. The press described the militants as petty political agitators, rather than leaders of a movement for a greater Punjab autonomy, as believed by a majority of Sikhs. Similarly, during the reportage of the 1984 riots there were discrepancy between the press release of data and images and the actual severity of the violent situation that prevailed in the streets of New Delhi (Das, 2009). This usage of selective information in the Indian media only contributed to the ambiguous image of Sikhs throughout the nation and failed to bring out their plight in the light. During the Sikh Movement the Government of India had passed the National Secu rity Act (1980), the Punjab Disturbed Areas Ordinance (1983), The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (1983) and the Terrorists Affected Areas (Special Courts Act of 1984). These acts provided the police and army with sweeping powers. They could charge and curtail to the right to life under specific situations. The approach of the media during the crisis had been partisan to take into account all types of multidimensional problem, historical, political, socio-economic and ideological. The media only focussed on special restricted information and ignored a careful examination of all the issues and processes that had led to the mayhem, the riots. During 1984, Indian leaders were free to make up non-existent stories and broadcast through Government controlled radio and television channels. Since there was a major restriction on the foreign press, all foreign news correspondents were left with no choice but to take the twister news of the local government controlled media. The United States of America, The House of Representatives had a view point on the same. It said: As a result the outside world receives a biased one side view of what goes on in Punjab because the Indian Government has control over most of the domestic media. This contributes to the stereotype that all Sikhs are extremist radicals who are terrorising the predominantly Hindu nation and that is just not the fact. If the Indian Government has nothing to hide it should remove the news blackout and permit outsiders into Punjab. The free flow of information is essential to the prevention of rights and liberties in a democratic society and India claims to be the worlds largest democracy. So, they should act as the worlds largest democracy. This is the foundation for a democratic nation and is not too much to ask of India to respect the rights of all its people and not just the Hindu majority. It is not right for any government to deny 16 million of its own people the basic political and civil rights. India has a moral obligation to protect the Sikh community.2 The national newspapers reporting on the Sikhs made no distinction between a regional political party, a handful of militants, and the entire Sikh community. Even the senior editors and columnists of the national newspapers considered all Sikhs accountable for the assassination of Indira Gandhi and provided no sympathy to the community during the riots. Through the critical years of political crisis in Punjab before the horrific riots, the national dailies had not help resolve the issue. The Times of India, one of the leading national dailies and The Hindustan Times did more to incite hostility between Hindus and Sikhs than perhaps any other national English language newspaper (Das, 2009). The media was a part of the misinformation carried out in the public. The best example of the same would be when a national newspaper carried out an article reporting that huge quantities of heroin and drugs had been recovered within the Golden Temple complex and the same had been used by the militants to illegally fund their operations. Since, the foreign press was banned in Punjab; they picked up the story based on the 14th June Press Trust of India (PTI) news report from the government sources. This news was carried out in the major international newspapers. One week into the incident, the government retracted the official report on the grounds that the drugs had been recovered from the India-Pakistan border and not the Golden Temple complex. This retraction by the government was not picked up by most international news agencies and the damage done by the initial report falsely remained amongst the mass.3 Many scholars believed that the Indian media forgot to prioritize issues and failed to act upon them. Senior Indian journalist, Manoj Mitta along with H. S. Phoolka in the book When a Tree Shook Delhi writes that the media focussed on the assassination of Indira Gandhi and did not care enough about the Sikh murders during the riots. Mitta says: The media by and large went by the official line on the carnage. It focused on the happenings at Teen Murti Bhawan, where Indira Gandhis body lay in state and where from people around the world had come to pay respect. So photographers were flocking to that place and the killings that were simultaneously going on in the capital did not get recorded at all. Its bizarre but true. Not all were pleased by the Indian medias coverage of the 1984 Sikh riots. The 2002 Gujarat Riots The Events On the 27th of February 2002, the Ahmedabad bound Sabarmati Express train reached a small town in Gujarat named Godhra (Yeolekar, 2002). Instead of the usual stoppage for 5 minutes the train stopped for 25 minutes and then moved out of the platform. Before the train could run at its normal speed, the alarm chain was pulled to stop the train at Signal Falia, a Muslim inhabited locality. No one clearly knows what really happened but after few minutes the compartment S-6 was on flames. 58 passengers including 26 women and 12 children were burnt to death (Yeolekar, 2002). Among the passengers were the Kar Sevaks5 travelling from Ayodhya. There have been different theories believing that Muslims were behind this barbaric act. If this wasnt barbaric enough, what followed in the days to come shook the entire secular nation of India. During the next three days, from the 28th of February to 2nd of March, 2002 Muslims were butchered, massacred and burnt alive. Out of the 24 districts in Gujarat, 16 were entangled by organized mob attacks in which over 2,000 Muslims were killed, 200 mosques and religious and cultural monuments were sent to rumbles (Sawant et al, 2002). The Muslim community of Gujarat suffered an enormous economic blow with an overall loss of Rs 35 billion. 5.2 The Indian Medias Coverage of the Riots 5.2.1 The Television Coverage For the first time in the history of communal clashes in India, violence was carried live on television (Ninan, 2002) as the cameras brought across the horrific images to viewers home in Gujarat and elsewhere. There was no live coverage of the attacks against the Sikhs back in 1984 or during the Babri Masjid fiasco in 1992. Those were the era of print media and television was limited to Doordarshan, a state owned channel. It was only in 1996 when, Rupert Murdoch ventured into India with the STAR network and STAR News happened Indias first 24 hour news channel (Page Crawley, 2001). This addition to the television spectrum of India added a new visual dimension to politics, violence and public sphere in India. In 2005, the television newscape had turned dense with a large number of players entering the market; several 24 hour news channels were launched. This led to intense competitive brand of journalism, which was evident during the Gujarat riots. There were a large consortium of jo urnalists and television crews from various channels on the streets in Gujarat, each trying to outdo each other. When the Gujarat violence happened, the private television in India had been broadcasting for about 8 years and was easily accessible by 40 million amongst the 81.6 million Indians who owned television sets4. This option offered by the private television gave the Indian viewers unprecedented access to independent broadcasting. When the first pictures of Gujarat riots were telecast on Indian screens on 27 February, the three major news networks in India Star News, Aaj Tak and Zee News did not follow the guidelines formulated by the Press Council of India, a quasi-judicial watchdog organization (Mehta, 2006). The guidelines mentioned not to reveal the identity of victims or attackers in the news reports but all the news networks carried blaring headlines about the killing of the Kar Sevaks. The guidelines were against the mentioning of victims or attackers as Hindus or Muslims because they feared it could inflame passions and lead to revenge attacks. The television news networks with its striking visual images made this guideline redundant. While covering the riots in Gujarat, the television journalists openly identified the victims and the attackers. Varadarajan argues for the naming of communities. He states that not naming the communities increases a sense of suspicion and anxiety amongst the ordinary citizens not only in the riot affected area but throughout the nation. Then people tend to assume that the victims are their own while attackers are the other (Varadarajan, 1999). Famous Indian journalists, Rajdeep Sardesai and Barkha Dutt of STAR News justified their stand of naming the communities. Barkha Dutt stated, Naming the community under siege in Gujarat was moot of the story. In fact it was the story, revealing as it did a prejudice administrative and political system that was happy to just stand by and watch. (Mehta, 2006). The bold and independent media coverage by the television media during the riots invited flak from the political actors in powers who were shown in bad light. Criticizing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Hindutva approach in the riots got STAR News and English newspapers like The Times of India and Indian Express bad press (Sonwalkar, 2006). The BJP was in power in the state of Gujarat and at the centre in New Delhi. After the initial violence, when the news coverage of the attacks against the Muslims in Gujarat started to reflect badly on the state and central government, the leaders came down heavily on the journalists and media personnel. The Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee addressed the nation a day after the attacks, regretting the disgraceful violence. He later on added that the news media were presenting an exaggerated account of the situation in Gujarat6. The BJP and the state government under Narendra Modi singled out STAR News and banned cable operators from showing the channel in the state. The viewers in Ahmedabad, one of the worst affected regions in the riots, were left with blank television screens, unaware from the reality happening on the streets (Mehta, 2006). Cable operators received calls from local officials in Ahmedabad and other cities to completely black out STAR News, Zee News, CNN and Aaj Tak6. Dossiers and hitlists on journalists were reportedly prepared while the channels which dared to reveal the truth and were critical of the Chief Minister and his plan of actions were not invited to the press conferences and hence were denied the basic right to information by the state itself (Sardesai 2004). The main complaint of the BJP and its allies were that the news media did not cover and criticize those who were responsible for the Godhra train tragedy in which 58 Kar Sevaks were victims. This however remains untrue as the every news channels and major newspaper had covered the Godhra train tragedy exclusively, but the follow ups did not remain as the story of the day because the Union Budget followed on 28 February. The budget coverage was pushed aside when the mass killings and large scale retaliation against Muslims started in various parts of the state (Sonwalkar, 2006). Another criticism was that, the national media inflamed communal passions by providing graphic television coverage of the dreadful events. The journalists and the news professional came out against the criticism and said that the level of violence would have been much worse if only the news media brought out the real picture by the graphic images. The BJP and its allies also christened the media as Marxist-Mullah combine and the Secular Taliban for criticising the attacks against the Muslims. Members of the Editors Guild of India visited the affected regions in Gujarat and were told by a group of Hindutva supporters that the Hindu community has been defamed with the coverage only being from the Muslim perspective: They only listen to Muslims and ignore the Hindus (Patel et al, 2002). Sardesai explains the predicament faced by journalists in covering the riots: (If ) any reporter, whether print of television, sees large-scale violence being committed, is the journalist to ignore the hard reality and merely present the facts as seen through the government binoculars? If the Chief Minister says that the situation is returning to normal even while reports are streaming in of continuing violence in several parts of the state, are not the lies to be exposed? And if the government insists that the army is out on the street when the fact is that the army has been kept on stand-by and is waiting for transport trucks, whose version is to be broadcast? (Sardesai, 2002) 5.2.2 The Press Coverage If the graphic coverage by the television channels hit the headlines and raised criticisms, the nature of the press coverage also came under the hammer. The coverage by the print media makes an interesting study. There were two different approaches followed by the local and the national media. The local section of the press, including the Gujarati dailies Sandesh and Gujarat Samachar, covered the events from a pro-Hindutva stand and justified the killings of hundreds of Muslims. While the national media, including The Times of India and the Indian Express, were overtly critical of the channelized attacks against the Muslims (Sonwalkar, 2006). The team of Editors Guild of India met several journalists, correspondents, editors, Chief Minister Narendra Modi and others to conclude that the English-language national press played an exemplary role in coverage of the riots. BJPs allegations of media playing an aggravating role in coverage of the riots have been dismissed by many scholars. Patel argues that the allegation was specious, self-serving and must be dismissed (Patel et al. 2002). The Editors Guild of Indias team observed that: Our finding is that the prompt and extensive portrayal by the national media of the untold horrors visited on innocent people in the wake of the Godhra carnage was a saving grace. The exposure of the supine is not complicit attitude of the State and manifest outpourings of communal hatred, stirred the conscience of the nation, compelled remedial action, howsoever defensively and belatedlyHowever, the role of the sections of the Gujarat media, specially the Gujarat Samachar and more notably Sandesh, was provocative, irresponsible and blatantly violative of all accepted norms of media ethics. This cannot be lightly passed over. (Patel et al, 2002) Gujarat Samachar is the largest selling daily in Gujarat with a circulation of nearly 810,000 followed by Sandesh with 705,000 (Sonwalkar, 2006). These two newspapers have a large readership and dominate the print market in Gujarat. A study by PUCL in 2002 found that there were several instances of distorted and false reporting in these two newspapers and also the circulation of Sandesh rose by 150,000 due to its pro-Hindutva stand. The coverage analysis found that when Muslims were at fault, their names were clearly mentioned and the perpetrators identified. However, when the Muslims were the victims of murders, loots, arsons, and other heinous crimes the attackers were unnamed. The study concluded: No sources were quoted for headlines, even when they were simply lifted from speeches by Vishwa Hindu Parishad (one of the Hindutva polical parties in the state). Headlines were also misleading, and often followed up by reports that did not substantiate, and even negated the headlines completelyThe anti-minority stand was obvious in the slant in news reporting. (PUCL, 2002) Sandesh was extremely provocative in its reporting. PUCL states Sandeshs usage of headlines was to provoke, communalize and terrorise people (PUCL 2002). On the 28th of Februrary, Sandesh carried a headline saying, 70 Hindus Burnt Alive in Godhra. Another report on the front page read, Avenge Blood with Blood, which was a quote from a statement made by one of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders, but the newspaper used the words as a headline without mentioning the leader (Sonwalkar, 2006). On the 6th of March, the headline read, Hindus Beware: Haj Pilgrims return with a Deadly Conspiracy, when the fact remains that hundreds of Haj pilgrims were terrified by the happenings in the state and had retuned under police protection. PUCL emphasized in its study that most news in Sandesh post-Godhra violence began with the sentence, In continuing spiral of communal rioting that broke out as a reaction to the demonic/barbaric, etc Godhra incident. The comminatory adjectives used in describing the Godhra incident were strikingly absent when covering the post Godhra Muslim annihilation (PUCL, 2002). One of the reports mentioned that the breasts of two Hindu women had been chopped off by Muslim mobs during the crisis. This report turned out be false and the editor countered by saying that the information had been provided by the police. The papers editor told that it was against the policy of the newspaper to carry out corrections and clarifications for previously published articles (Patel et al, 2002). The Press Council of India later censured the newspaper for the fault (Prerna, 2003). Gujarat Samachar also heightened the tension through its pro-Hindutva stand in coverage of the events. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi openly praised Sandesh for its work, which was publishing false and rumoured reports with a pronounced pro-Hindutva and an anti-Muslim stance. In a letter to the newspapers editor, Modi writes: The newspapers of the state played a decisive role as a link between the people and the government. You have served humanity in a big way. It is the state governments primary duty to restore peace and security. It is noteworthy that the newspapers of Gujarat gave their full support to the state government in undertaking this difficult task.I am grateful to you. (Varadarajan, 2002: 286) The one regional newspaper that stood out amidst the Hindutva ideology was the Gujarat Today, notably started by few liberal Muslims in the state. The report suggested Gujarat Today regularly carried out positive news items highlighting interdependence of the communities involved (PUCL 2002). The two English-language national newspapers in India, The Times of India and the Indian Express were critical of the state government in their articles. However, these two newspapers also publish editions from Gujarat and a clear divide was evident between the two English-language dailies and the two regional editions (Sonwalkar, 2006). While the English-language version was sharp in its criticisms of Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his policies, the two Gujarati dailies propagated the need of Hindutva. Desai, an Ahmedabad-based correspondent of the Indian Express writes: Today, all the people who once used to look at me with respect question me and abuse me. They do this because I represented a publication whose medium is English and because I reported human misery in its right perspective.A friend said: All of you from the English language media have tarnished the image of Gujarat. Today, the common man in Gujarat hates the English language media. Even a section of the English language media hates the English language media. (Desai, 2004: 228) We find that there was a demarcation between the coverage of the national media and a section of the regional press. The national media did a commendable job but were criticised by a few. The Role of the Media during Communal Riots: The Road Ahead The result of multiple and complex interests of regions, states and/or various types of groups within them leads to economic, social and political conflicts. Such conflicts are difficult to handle and requires negotiations between the parties involved and in this amorphous age of media the governments are finding extremely difficult to handle such situations (Terzis, 2008). Despite the increased importance of communication, very few governments can speak about successful communication during conflicts because they fail to take into consideration the perception of the conflict in the minds of the common mass, the scientific analysis of the causable factors, the agendas of the parties involved and the changing nature of the conflict itself (Ballantine, 2003). The role of mass media in covering and resolving conflicts, especially those involving religious differences that leads to frequent communal riots in India, is extremely crucial. We are in the age where the basic principles of reportage of facts are sacred, comment free, get both sides of the story, double check your facts before writing, are not enough in reporting communal riots. There are enough challenges faced by a journalist and media personnel in such a situation. The guidelines for a reporter in covering communal riots should be to lookout for detailed background information, not continue with the stereotyping of communities, find residents who deal with both the communities, talk to victims from both sides, corroborate victims as well as polices accounts, discover the role of the police, the politicians and the media

The Bio Psychosocial Model In Healthcare

The Bio Psychosocial Model In Healthcare The theory of bio-psychosocial model was introduced in 1977 by Mr. George Engel, a professor of psychiatry and medicine. It is a comprehensive model explicating a strong relationship between health and disease by integrating cultural, social, and psychological considerations (Engel 1977, p. 132). There has been a consistent effort since 1980s to examine the interconnectedness between social, psychological, behavioural factors and the functioning of immune system to explore their contribution in causing human illness (Karren, Hafen, Smith, Frandsen, 2002; Kiecolt-Glasser, McGuire, Robles, Glasser, 2002) followed by a bio-psychosocial model. The bio-psychosocial interventions are conceptualized to target the combination of biological, psychological and sociological factors that contribute in deteriorating human body functions thus producing illness. These interventions are the collaborative efforts with service users by integrating a number of evidence based practices by encompassing the medical, social and psychological paradigm with intent to accomplish swift recovery (Brooker Brabban 2004). The main objective of these interventions is to analyze and identify the underlying causes of the disease by evaluating the causes of biological dysfunction, psychological problems affecting mental and emotional health and assessing the sociological issues including marital status, financial positioning, culture or religion that may serve as the root cause of sickness. The core elements of bio-psychological interventions are the management of medication, symptoms and relapses, the cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) for psychosis, collaborative assessments and structured family interventions. The effectiveness and responsiveness of mental health services rely upon the easy access of psychological interventions to the people diagnosed with severe and enduring mental health issues (Layard 2004). The Department of Health has been consistently emphasizing on the need for Ear ly Interventions in Psychosis Services (EIPS) and bio-psychosocial interventions specifically focussing on CBT, to be implemented across diverse clinical settings particularly in acute inpatient units (DoH 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006). The accessibility of such interventions facilitates in optimizing treatment concordance, reducing relapse rate and mental health problems and improves the overall clinical outcome which encourages resurgence of patients wellbeing (Gray et al. 2001). However, it is significant to note that psychosocial interventions can only be effective when implemented with the help and support of adequately trained healthcare workforce. 1.1 Rationale of the Study In accordance with the fundamentals of bio-psychosocial models, it can be constituted that the core forerunner of an ailment belongs to the three vital elements including physical, psychological, and socio-cultural components. Stevens Smith, (2005), in their study examined the bio-psychosocial model and constituted that it helps in comprehending with the interactive and reciprocal effects of environment, genetics, and mental behaviour (Stevens Smith, 2005, p. 25). To support the validity of the bio-psychosocial model, several pragmatic evidences have been put forward advocating the relationship of social, psychological and immunological factors that produce negative impacts on human health conditions (Trilling, 2000). Over the last decade, the need for education and training of healthcare workers in order to develop their PSI skills has been amplified however, the literature suggests that the implementation of PSI in routine service provision is extremely challenging (Kelly Gamble 2005). This paper is designed to examine the role of psychiatric in an acute in-patient ward. Moreover, the study in intended to highlight the policy and research related to bio-psychosocial interventions that help in managing crisis and complexities of an acute ward. The study will also facilitate in identifying the barriers of implementing psychosocial interventions and thereby, propose effectual strategies to prevail over these difficulties. 2. NATIONAL POLICIES FOR MENTAL HEALTH Mental illness along with cancer care and coronary heart disease were identified as the three national priorities in the year 2000 followed by which the UK government increased the funds for NHS up to 9% of GDP (Kings Fund, 2005). The budgetary limits for adult mental health services were also extended from  £983m to  £3,770m in 2001-2002 and up to  £4,679m in 2005-2006 (Mental Health Strategies, 2006) and it was also constituted that maximum financial resources will be utilized to support the inpatient services (Mental Health Strategies, 2006). The evidences suggest that the acute inpatient units have been facing a tremendous amount of dissatisfaction (MIND, 2004) and therefore, numerous healthcare bodies including Department of Health (DoH), the National Institute for Mental Health England (NIMHE) and Care Services Improvement Partnership (CSIP) collaborated to institute acute inpatient programme (DoH, 2002). The collaborative efforts by these healthcare bodies resulted in th e development of standard policies and guidelines for the betterment of acute inpatient services (Healthcare Commission 2007). Concerned with the conditions of mental health treatment, the national guidelines on acute psychiatric care were published in 2002 as the acute inpatient services were considered to be unsatisfactory (Department of Health, 2002a: 3). The main objective to institute standard policies and guidelines in accordance with Mental Health Act Commission is to ensure that all the inpatient mental health services are consistent in providing their patients with adequate sense of privacy, security and absolute care (MHAC, 2005: 19). ACUTE IN-PATIENT WARDS In accordance with the description proposed by the Department of Health (2002), the main purpose of introducing acute wards is to offer high standards of humane treatment and care facilities readily available to the patients within a safe and therapeutic setting during the most acute and vulnerable stage of their illness (DoH, 2002a: 5). The acute inpatient services have been developed to ensure that the spread of diseases is lessened and maximum treatment and support is made available for the patients that are unable to be treated in an alternative, less restrictive setting (********). The acute in-patients wards are meant to facilitate both health care providers and service users however, a number of studies have illuminated on the difficulties of managing the acute in-patient wards. A series of issues has been outlined by various studies including leadership crisis, deficient clinical skills and poor risk management process (SNMAC, 1999). The robustness of interaction between nurs e and patient and lack of therapeutic activities has also been questioned (Ford, Duncan and Warner, 1998); and a number of studies indicated a frequent state of confusion and chaos that builds up in the in-patient acute wards (SCMH, 1998). The effectiveness of CBT for psychosis is also challenged where there is a lot of complaint about non-therapeutic environment and non-cooperating overworked staff (MIND, 2004). Several studies also point out the dissatisfaction of patients due to surplus admissions in wards causing uneasiness and certain overly restrictive rules ended up in lack of privacy. The issues of in-patient acute wards also involved grievances of patients having less or no formation about treatment and which is considered to be unresponsiveness towards their civil rights (Walton, 2000). The study is therefore, focussed to critically examine the underlying issues and dig in the factors that aggravate them in order to suggest effective management strategies to improve the re ceptiveness of the nurses and open ways for easy accessibility to highly developed in-patient wards. ROLE OF NURSE IN ACUTE IN-PATIENT WARDS A critical care nurse working in acute in-patient ward has comprehensive mix of knowledge, skills and competencies required to fulfil the needs of a critically ill patient without having a direct supervision of a ward manager. The blend of knowledge, skills and competencies are not characterised by the therapeutic setting including intensive care unit or a high dependency ward instead, these blend of knowledge, skills and competencies must compliment the needs of psychotic patients. Psychotic patients need extensive care in order to reduce the chances of ill-fated crisis and complications. The level of therapeutic care can be enhanced by the careful interventions of experienced critical care nurses having advanced observational skills and holistic approach to deal with both the psychotic patients and their families. Following are some basic interventions employed by the critical care nurses in an acute in-patient ward to maximize operational efficiencies. 4.1 Ensure Positive Alignment Acute in-patient wards are critical in nature and therefore, a tactful and positive alignment of nurse-managers and nurse-patients is essential to maintain a functional ward. The role of nurse in an acute patient ward is to effectively respond to patients requests and offer maximum level of help and information. Patients are entirely dependent on nurses as they are the key point of contact in a ward and therefore, it becomes imperative for the nurses to establish a respect element for their clinical ability. Working closely with managers and regular staff meetings are all part of positive alignment that ensures smooth work process of an in-patient acute ward. 4.2 Supporting the Ward Manager A high-quality therapeutic skill of the nurse is to understand the organizational hierarchies and respect the decisions of the ward manager. Ward leader is involved in the positioning and staffing and the most crucial element of ward managers job description is to take prompt decisions. Acute wards are critical in nature so chaos and confusion adversely affects the mental health of patient and therefore, nurses are required to perform their duties by supporting the decisions and following the rules as set by the ward manager. 4.3 Safety and Containment Nurses in the acute in-patient wards are required to safe management system and prompt resolution of acute distress. The motherly relationship between nurse and patient supports the concept of containment by the benefitting the mental health of the patient. Physical restraint is the core element of containment which helps in the therapeutic progression. The role of a nurse in psychiatric wards is fundamental in preserving the safety and containment as the skilful and qualified nurses are specifically trained to reduce anxieties and fears of the patients and supporting them to resume a balance between idealism and realism. 4.4 Effective Communication Nursing in general supports a holistic approach towards the service users and the role of nurses become even more significant in an acute in-patient wards where the patients are extremely vulnerable. Nurses are the immediate point of contact to provide significant information about the patients mental health to the interdisciplinary team and the family members of the patients. Moreover, it has been observed that a nurse-patient relationship maintain effective communication, achieves better results in terms of fast recovery. 4.5 Observation Improving Patient Outcomes Acute in-patient wards require careful observations to reduce sedation and weaning from ventilation and to offer physical rehabilitation, and psychological support in a timely manner. Role of nurses in acute wards are required to be adequately skilful to monitor the dependence of patients on support equipment and to make proactive predictions and prevention of agitation by significant interventions in case of sudden deterioration. Recovery of a psychotic patient can be enhanced by using patient-centred care and vigilant management practices to cope with reckless events (Ball and McElligot, 2002). CBT FOR PSYCHOSIS Cognitive behavioural therapy is designed to evaluate the symptoms of psychosis and at the same time examine the relative impacts of illness on the patients mental health. A psychotic patient experiences a number of difficulties in terms of isolation, societal rejection, feelings of aggression as a result of which there is an increased risk self-harm and substance misuse. The main purpose of adopting CBT for psychotic patient is to gain symptomatic and functional recovery of the patient however, in case of persistent symptoms due to disrupted developmental trajectory; it is advised to continue with the therapy. CBT develops enhanced understanding of psychotic disorders and promotes adaptation to disorder by initiating coping strategies in order to reduce the degree of secondary morbidity and prevent relapse (Trilling 2000). CBT aims to improve the emotional and mental wellbeing of patients by reducing distress and offering helpful strategies to manage the residual symptoms of psychos is in daily life. The treatment therapy for psychosis involves a number of key phases and management strategies to progress speedy recovery. 5.1 Assessment Formulation The psychosocial intervention that involves CBT for psychosis primarily requires a therapeutic alliance between the healthcare provider and the service users. The initial phase of CBT involves engagement of therapist and patient in the assessment of the illness so that the patients mental health can be analyzed and their psychotic experiences can be recorded. The assessment phase of CBT helps in identifying the problem areas, factors sustaining the problem areas and the underlying causes of the psychotic disorder. Therapists strive to understand the nature, complexity and extent of the disorder by probing in the biological, psychological and social background of illness. During the assessment phase a therapist attempts to summarize the aetiology, development and maintenance of psychotic disorder and thereby, outlines the length and frequency of necessary interventions. Engagement of both therapist and the patient facilitates in the formulation phase where a specified course of action is established to undertake the therapy. 5.2 Psycho-education The early phase of psychotic disorder is identified by the onset of certain symptoms after which a the healthcare providers diagnose the ailment by taking into account numerous theories of psychosis and a number of individual explanatory models that helps in understanding of the precise form of psychosis. The patients are required to be informed about the impacts of substance misuse, compulsory medications and the inception of warning signs in order to keep them in the loop of the overall recovery process accompanied by CBT. The psycho-education also involves details about the helpful agencies and the nature of recovery which is usually conducted as part of a group programme. Educating the patients about facts and essential information is always useful however, it is imperative that the psychosis education programs are designed in a way that the patients comprehend the concept of these programs intended to restore their mental health. Depending upon an individuals coping style and wi llingness to absorb the information, the reaction to such educating programs might differ. 5.3 Adaptation to Psychosis The theory of adaptation to psychosis entirely depends upon the patients understanding of the disorder and how he/she addresses the recovery process by reacting to the underlying situation. The process of adaptation involves acknowledging the impact of psychotic disorder on patients life by estimating the damages caused to the patients self-esteem and his/her realisation of personal potential to combat with disorder. CBT helps the psychotic patients to identify their personal strengths and limitations to fight with ailment by expanding their coping skills and formulate realistic plans to facilitate the patient. The main objective of the CBT for psychosis is to enable the patients to learn the concept of overcoming the negative aspects of life and focusing on positive things including healthy activities, friendly relationships and personal accomplishments in order to enhance their self-esteem. The psychotic patients are extremely vulnerable and cannot stand social fears which eventual ly deteriorate their mental health. CBT enables them in adapting to their psychotic conditions by making them realise their strengths and capabilities to prevail over internal fears and hence contribute significantly in the recovery process. 5.4 Treatment of Secondary Morbidity Failure in adaptation to psychosis results in secondary morbidity state in which the patient is unable to cope with internal and external fears and thereby, experiences extreme level of depression, anxiety and substance misuse. It is important that CBT for psychosis is continued and the nature of the secondary condition has to be explained to the patient. Failure in adapting to psychosis leads the psychotic patients to develop irrational beliefs and assumptions which make it even more difficult and challenging for the therapists. However, an approach of cognitive challenging supplemented by group-based interventions for anxiety management or substance misuse is followed by examining the underlying beliefs and assumptions and replacing them with rational beliefs and assumptions. 5.5 Coping Strategies A number of behavioural and cognitive strategies have been formulated to help patients work towards improved functional outcome despite of psychotic symptoms. The functional and emotional problems that arise with the positive and negative symptoms of the psychotic disorder are controlled by coping strategies included in CBT for psychosis. It is however, necessary to identify the target symptoms to manage the recovery process. The most commonly used strategies in CBT include coping strategy enhancement, distraction and focusing techniques for voices after the identification of positive symptoms (Trilling 2000). Self-monitoring of behavioural activities, scheduling of paced activities, assertiveness training and diary recording of mastery and pleasure are some of the interventions used to cope with the negative symptoms. 5.6 Relapse Prevention The relapse prevention phase is amongst the integral phase of CBT in which the therapists are required to prudently monitor and intervene where there are early warning signs for relapse. It has been constituted that after the commencement of treatment approximately 80-95% of the psychotic patients experience the relapse prevention (*******). CBT incorporates several interventions to address the issue of relapse prevention including cognitive restructuring of enduring self-schema in which there is an elevated risk of relapse. BARRIERS TO IMPLEMENT PSYCHOSOCIAL INTERVENTIONS The clinical effectiveness of psychosocial interventions has been emphasized in a number of evidence based studies as the significance of these interventions has exceedingly grown over the last 20 years. The growing awareness and enhanced need and inclination towards the espousal of psychosocial interventions suggest that these interventions should be routinely implemented (NICE 2002). However, there has been a considerable amount of literature indicating the potential difficulties and challenges associated with the integration of psychosocial interventions within the routine mental health service provision (Brooker Brabban 2003, Forrest Masters 2004). The challenges are multifactorial and are primarily concerned with the workforce development and education (Brooker et al. 2002, Brooker Brabban 2004, Forrest et al. 2004); clinical and managerial leadership (Cook 2001, McCann Bowers 2005); and the impact of limited resources on service development in the context of increasing dema nds (McCann Bowers 2005). 6.1 Education Training Mental health services are currently challenged by policy, service user and professional drives. In order to establish the early intervention in psychosis services a range of initiatives are required. The foremost requirement to entrench the bio-psychosocial interventions into all levels of service delivery is to maximise the number of trained practitioners (Brabban Kelly 2006). More importantly the integration of the principles of the recovery approach and evidence-based practice has to be included in the education and training of the healthcare workforce (Repper Perkins 2003, Kelly Gamble 2005, NIMHE 2005, DoH 2006). However, it is unfortunate that despite of consistently mounting awareness and need for the psychosocial interventions within the clinical settings and mental health service provisions, the fraction of PSI trained workforce is still inadequate (Layard 2004). The situation becomes more intricate when a segment of trained healthcare workforce is not practicing their P SI skills due to other contributing factors including excessive workload and lack of time, limiting the scope of implementing psychosocial interventions (Brooker Brabban 2004). 6.2 Managerial Leadership Crisis Management and the senior staff have a better understanding of the complex nature and clinical significance of PSI training and its implementation and therefore, the role of managers become crucial in determining the success and failure of implementing psychosocial interventions in acute wards. It has been observed that regular communication between managers and trainees and careful check and balance maintained by the programme leaders enables successful PSI implementation (McCann Bowers 2005). However, the managers and programme leaders find it difficult to sustain the precision of PSI implementation due to workload pressures across the service (Cook 2001). 6.3 Limited Resources The most frequent complaints and issues regarding the failure of implementing psychosocial interventions in the acute wards have been identified by the literature and the most common issues are the unprecedented gap between theory and practice. Limited resources on service development in context of increased demand also tend to hinder in successful PSI implementation (Repper Brooker 2002). In order to fill in the gaps between theory and practice of PSI implementation the aims and objectives of the interventions has to be illuminated so that the practicability of the interventions can be sustained. It is therefore, essential to improve ward-based information and clarify the ward rules for users (Flood et al, 2006). On the other hand, sufficient resources including caseload size, access to assessment and intervention materials are required to undertake the interventions (McCann Bowers 2005). 6.4 Staffing Issues Excessive workload and staffing issues are the key problems of an acute in-patient wards where there is extreme need of practising psychosocial interventions. It has been observed that even after the completion of training and courses the trainees are compelled to resume the same job description. It is extremely unfortunate that the work overload doesnt allow the trainees to utilize their skills and knowledge at an advanced level (Williams 2008). Managers of the in-patient wards also complain about the workload pressure as being the critical factor for not adjusting the job descriptions of the trainees after the completion of their relevant course. On the other hand, trainees also complain about the excess workload and lack of time to focus on and practice their PSI skills. 6.5 Excessive Workload The most problematic barriers in the implementation of PSI are the emergency excessive and unpredictable admissions of the critical psychotic cases which require immediate attention. The presence of critical care nurse is therefore, extremely significant at any point of time which is one of the major staffing issue. Critical care nurses are already under immense workload pressures and conversely, the reduction in the number of beds has added to the situation (Williams 2008). The rise in demand due to high case loads has made it extremely difficult to effectively employ the structured PSI interventions into routine work. REQUIREMENTS OFACUTE IN-PATIENT WARDS The threshold of admission in acute inpatient wards has considerably increased and the role of critical care nurses has also become more complex. Systematic assessments by highly skilled critical care nurses by involving service users and their carer allows formulating a plan for significant interventions which are targeted to reduce the burden of in-patient wards provided if the necessary care and interventions can be continued at home (Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2006b).The complexity of the contemporary acute in-patient ward is enhanced by the reduction in the number of beds however, it is considered to be a small component of the multifaceted care system (Clarke, 2004). The most critical aspect of the decision making process is the comparison of psychotic patients awaiting the admission therefore, critical care nurses are required to carry out vigilant assessments by making careful considerations about the individuals circumstances (Meehan et al, 2006). Patients expect the nu rses to function in a collaborative way and treat them with respect (Baguley et al, 2007) however, a number of studies indicates dissatisfied service users complaining about the services being intimidating, demeaning and often humiliating (NIMHE, 2007). To address the underlying issues and in order to maintain the accreditation standards for the acute in-patient wards a full multidisciplinary ward round, at least once a week has been recommended (Royal College of Psychiatrists 2006b). Moreover, the government has also introduced crisis management and home intervention teams in order to lessen the burden of admissions in acute in-patient wards with intent to focus on recovery by involving community efforts. A combination of psychological and social interventions by reintegrating the service users into the community can be achieved by adopting a holistic approach. STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME THE BARRIERS A number of strategic measures have been identified by the study which is likely to enhance the benefits of implementing psycho social-interventions in the acute in-patient wards. The main objective of the proposed recommended strategies is to address extensive issues encompassing diverse areas and segments related to the acute in-patient wards, to accomplish utmost advantages for both the practitioners and service users. 8.1 Enhanced Flexibility The level of emergency admissions and dependency of patients in the critical care unit cannot be predicted and may considerably vary in between allocated shifts. The complex structure and nature of the acute in-patient units require flexibility in the number of critical care nurses per shift in order to effectively respond to changes in demand (******). Moreover, the critical care nurses are required to consistently examine the trends in elective patient admissions so that the capacity planning and nurse staffing may comply with the change in demand. 8.2 Employment of Healthcare Assistants Critical care nurses are highly skilled and trained to understand the needs of an acute in-patient ward. Therefore, while determining staffing levels, the recruitment of health care assistants must not interfere with the skill mix of critical care nurses. Considering the excessive workload pressure on the critical care nurses, it is beneficial to employ the health care assistants to facilitate in providing quality care services. However, to create a balance between critical care and general care services, it is advisable to specify the registered nursing hours so that the quality of critical care may not be compromised (Needleman et al, 2002). 8.3 Definite Policies Procedures Clearly defined policies and protocols helps in maintaining a healthy work environment and organizational structure. It is imperative to clarify the roles and responsibilities with respect to the specified job title in order to ensure that smooth workflow has been maintained across the entire ward. Moreover, definite policies and protocols also facilitate in successful implementation of PSI and practising of CBT by the trained staff. Depending upon the past experiences as a critical care nurse and knowledge of working in the critical care facility it has been recommended that for at least 30 days nurses should maintain supernumerary position in the intensive care wards (DHSSPS, 2000). To address the staffing needs, managerial support complying with policies and procedures, is required so that the chaos and confusion shall be avoided. 8.4 Professional Development Critical care services can be improved by consistent training and staff development programmes specifically designed to focus on the psychosocial interventions practice. It is highly recommended to incorporate evidence-based interventions in the curriculum of PSI-trained staff and their skills and knowledge must be employed in their respective job descriptions (Brabban and Kelly 2006). Moreover, the professional and developmental needs of the nurses working acute in-patient ward must be considered during staff appraisals to promote professional excellence of the critical care staff. 8.5 Reduce Workload Pressure Support of healthcare assistants shall be obtained to encourage superior care services by disseminating the excessive workload pressure. It has been observed that during PSI training, the staffing is greatly affected and therefore, it is advisable to utilize the replacement funds to relieve workload pressures in the critical care units. Moreover, rational strategies and centralized measures might be helpful in addressing the substitution arrangements in an effective manner. 8.6 Training and Education Development of leadership skills for critical care nurse is highly recommended for improving the PSI implementation, advanced patient care. It is also advisable to provide the critical staff with mandatory training including essential fire training, manual handling and basic life support in addition to the training for psychosocial interventions (Brabban and Kelly 2006). Moreover, a tripartite structure for communication in between ward managers, program leaders and the trainees would help in successful implementation of the psychosocial interventions. 8.7 Dissemination of Knowledge The significance of the psychosocial interventions has to be widely encouraged and therefore, the content and levels of PSI programme shall be kept diversified which may involve modular provision and training specific to certain interventions e.g. family work, medication management or clinical areas including acute inpatient, forensic etc. (*****) To establish the efficacy and implementation of the PSI, it is imperative to disseminate the basics and core PSI knowledge and values to the healthcare staff across the clinical environment. Furthermore, the local training needs for PSI shall be regularly reviewed by the stakeholders to ensure that adequately trained and skilful staff is maintained at all times to provide extensive care in critical wards. 8.8 Evaluating the Impacts of PSI Psychosocial interventions integrate collaborative participation of service users and carers at every stage including planning of services, training programs, formulation and implementation of strategies and diffusion of the recovery approach therefore, the impacts of these interventions can be evaluated by collating feedback from both critical care nurses and service users. 8.9 Regular Audits To estimate the effectiveness of the evidence