The Spiritual Autobiography Essay Example for Free

The Spiritual Autobiography Essay One of the fascinating characteristics of Japanese religion is the syncretism of its traditional religions, foremost of which are Zen Buddhism and Shinto. In Journey In Search of the Way: The Spiritual Autobiography of Satomi Myodo, Satomi gives a mesmerizing look into the spirituality of Japan, through the eyes of what seems at first an unlikely witness. Satomi’s experiences are untypical for a Japanese woman in the Meiji era, considering that she was the only daughter of her parents. Petty (2004) argues that by being an only child, Satomi received her parents’ whole investment of expectations and dreams, a burden of responsibility in any society. Thus she was subjected to experiences that a village girl at that time would normally not have, such as her education in Tokyo, her subsequent unwed pregnancy or her arrangement as a Kageki actress. Her unique encounters as both a Shinto miko and a Zen nun are an insight to the mixture of the two religions in modern Japan. When Satomi first engaged in ascetic practices, she was doing it to prepare herself to become a miko. Initially, she was not satisfied with her experience, rather describing herself afterwards as no better off than she was before. This purification process is not unique to the Shinto religion, but her struggles can be classified as more of a shamanistic nature reflecting her encounters with the kami. Satomi continued to engage in an ascetic lifestyle afterwards, in her discovery of Zen. According to Nixon (2000) â€Å"At this point Satomi’s asceticism is less severe, and she consciously relates it to her practice of meditation, but it serves a similar function – i. e. , one of deliberately frustrating a lower level structure of dependency, in order that the dynamisms of a higher level of personality might emerge, as indeed they do with her first kensho experience. † (par. 14). Although she found true enlightenment and spiritual invigoration in the practice of Zen, her initial experience in purifying the spirit with Shinto has given her prior introduction to the life she will lead as a Zen nun. Additionally, Satomi’s failures and accomplishments in her role as a woman in the Meiji-era society gave her the character and persistence needed in her pursuit of satori. By practicing zazen, Satomi found great peace and joy, something she was searching for since the very beginning. It can be argued, however, that her Shinto preparation was a stepping stone towards finding enlightenment. Her first kensho experience, at fifty-nine years old came late in life, and her dedication towards this experience made her a model of achievement in any religious path. Zen and Shinto were at the time of Satomi separated, with Shinto following the Kannagara no michi tradition that was used in pre-war Japan to instill a nationalistic spirit on the Japanese. From the start however, the influence of Buddhism on Shinto is apparent and the best example would be the description of Kannagara no michi as teaching a primal state of natural and spontaneous harmony with the kami, to which one might return by abandoning human desire and artificiality. This incorporation of beliefs is characteristic of the faith of modern Japanese people today, which take Shinto and Buddhist teachings as part of the culture and spirituality of Japan. Satomi’s account is clear and vivid, giving justice to the setting and context of her life’s story. The Journey In Search of the Way: The Spiritual Autobiography of Satomi Myodo is a very good reading on the religions of Japan, and especially in relation to the role given to women. R E F E R E N C E Nixon, Laurence. (2000). A Dabrowskian Analysis of a Japanese Buddhist Nun [Electronic Version]. The Dabrowski Newsletter, 6(2). Petty, Genevieve. (2004). A Wild Woman in Buddhism: A Critique of the Life of Satomi Myodo. Retrieved April 7, 2007, from http://poeme. memory-motel. net/academic/satomi. pdf

Workplace Health and Safety

Workplace Health and Safety Safety Engineering TMA 1 At the start it is fair to surmise that health and safety was never at the forefront of any business or company. But over many years it can clearly be seen and noted that a company cannot flourish without it. This being said it was not until the early 1930’s that the first formal Health and safety text book was introduced by H.W. Heinrich which speaks volumes of how poor the health and safety situation was coming up to this time. Moving forward through the ages it can be seen that things where moving in the right direction from the emergence of more responsible and co-ordinated attitudes in the 50’s to the all powerful Health and Safety at Work Act in 1974 to our current day Acts that protect workers in every which way imaginable. Companies that work hard and invest in overall workplace health and safety should experience reductions in illnesses, injuries and fatalities. This will return financial savings in a number of the companies sectors, such as reducing employees compensation fees and medical costs, avoiding preset penalty fines, and reducing the amount of money used to train new/replacement staff and the cost of conducting accident investigations. Overall, employers commonly find that improvements to workplace health and safety can mean substantial improvements to their companies’ financial performance and productivity. By investing in health and safety a company can improve business and must see that complying with health and safety should not be looked at as a regulatory load that has been forced upon them as it offers significant opportunities. Benefits can include: Cut costs; Lower risks; Reduce employee sickness/absence and staff turnover; Less accidents; Smaller risk of lawful action; improved status with suppliers and partners; Greater reputation for business responsibility among investors, customers and communities; More productivity, because employees are happier, fitter, healthier and more motivated. HSE figures show the personal and economic cost of failing to meet health and safety standards each year: Masses of working days and hours are used up because of work-related illness and injury. Thousands deceased from occupational diseases/illness. Over a million employees have self-reported distress from a work induced illness. As much as one worker is fatally injured every working day. It is clear to see that without an adequate health and safety setup within a company no matter how big or small they may be that they cannot compete or even exist without Safety. From a purely financial business mind the risks are far too great to waver safety and from a humanist perspective the loss of life should never be something to be risked against. 2A. What caused the event By what route(s) or mechanism(s) did the deviation or hazardous event occur? What should be done to prevent its recurrence or, if it is not technically or economically possible to prevent repetition, how can its probability be reduced to an acceptable level? Can the knowledge gained be applied elsewhere? 2B. The quantitative approach to health and safety simply put can be defined as a set of equations used to determine levels of safety. Quantitative safety levels are data and numbers put forward in order to try and estimate achievable levels of safety and measure how well they perform in quantitative results. It should be made clear that if a quantitative safety performance level has been set, it must be able to be measured or estimated in quantitative terms. Quantitative data does give a very clear picture of a system and should be applied if possible. Setting up a reliable quantitative system for safety target levels helps and enables companies to measure and record all achieved levels of safety, and could help provide a sound basis for managers and directors to make decisions. The desired target safety outcome should be presented in either relative or absolute terms. Mathematical models are the common practice used to define quantitative safety target, for example to make an estimate of a target rate of safety occurrences of a stated severity. It is also very important to note that it is often impractical or even impossible to quantify all factors. 3A. What is a hazard? The meaning of a hazard is often very misleading and can be very confusing as many dictionaries do not give specific definition and at times combine the term â€Å"risk† causing great confusion between the two. Most describe a hazard as a danger or a risk which explains why many substitute one for the other. The way that I feel best describes a hazard is- any source of potential harm, damage or ill health effects on someone or something under normal working conditions. Realistically it is something that can cause harm or ill effects to either individuals (health effects) or organizations (property damage or equipment loss). For example any working system whether it is mechanical, electrical or chemical can reach its potential to destruct through use by any amount of means i.e.; fire, explosion, mechanical fault. It would not be good practise to measure a hazard confidently against size or severity. What is risk? Risk can be foreseen as the probability or the chance of ill effect that someone may experience an adverse health effect or even be caused harm by being exposed to a hazard. It can also very easily apply to a companies, property or equipment loss or damage. An example of risk could be: the risk of developing lung cancers from smoking could be shown as – â€Å"smokers are 10 times (for example) more likely to contract and die of cancer than non smokers†. An alternative way of reporting risk is by using a number or lettering system i.e. â€Å"a number X, of smokers per 100 smokers will have a chance of developing lung cancer† (dependent on age and the amount of years they had been smoking). This type of risk is expressed a likelihood or probability of a person developing a disease or incurring an injury. These differ to hazards because they refer to the likely or possible consequences (e.g., emphysema, lung cancer and heart disease from cigarette smoking.) 3B. Ordinary (industrial) Ordinary risks are a common in all industry related businesses and are caused predominantly by employee’s everyday work and activity whilst carrying out their jobs. Classic examples of these can range from; slipping and tripping hazards, objects falling on personal from heights, personal falling from heights, physical injuries caused from lifting, physical injuries causes from interference with industrial equipment. All of the above risks are only applicable to staff working in an industrial environment and not the general public Residual A danger or risk of an event or action irrespective of being in line with science and fact can be seen as a residual risk, residual risks can and will conceive dangers, even if all possible measures of safety are theoretically applied. An example could be of a water tank or pump failing and the residual risk being flooding. Process Process risk can be seen as the result of a risk differing from predicted estimates based on the pure random chance of an event. For example if a die is thrown 6 times. It could be estimated that it will land on the number 1 once every 6 throws if the nice is fair. Process risk can be explained that the number of one’s thrown could be more or less than once due to the randomness of chance in the dice throwing process Societal risks Societal risk, as its name suggest is the risk to the society or local group of people that may be subject or exposed to a major hazard. The risk is best surmised and worked out by area and location ranging from factors like blast radius, flood radius, predictable wind direction when measuring a gas release. An example where societal risk would need to be factored in would be when any company plans to build or produce something that could/would hold some kind potential societal hazard. This can be plotted and calculated using a FN curve to determine the full risk of the set up. 4. Classify the following situations in terms of type of risk and complete the risk table by assigning probabilities between 0 (not possible) and 1 (certain) with 0.1 – 0.3 (low), 0.4 – 0.6 (average), 0.7 – 0.9 (high) for injury and equipment damage for each hazard. State concisely the reasons for your choices and any qualifications you feel are required. Factors such as weather, location and population density should be considered and stated. (i) Object falling from scaffold. (ii) Tripping over a low level pipe in a petrochemical plant whilst on nightshift. (iii) Electric shock from overhead cable/line struck by lightning. (iv) Radioactive leak into a river from nuclear power station. (v) Electricity supply interruption in an equipment store with emergency lighting. (vi) Not replacing a walkway grating on an oil rig. (vii) Hydrogen sulphide release from pocket in the end of a blanked off pipe in a crude oil fractionation plant. (i). I have selected the object falling from a scaffold as an ordinary risk and scored the probability of risk as 0.5 as is the nature of the risk there will always be the risk of objects falling from a height when working at height, I have not scored it to high as safety measures are always in place when working at heights to prevent and limit this type of risk. I have scored the probability of damage higher as generally anything falling has the potential to cause damage and at 0.8 this highlights that fact. (ii) I have categorised the tripping situation as a ordinary risk as well as a process risk, ordinary because tripping situations are overly common and happen day to day in industry and a process risk because process risks can be seen as the result of a risk differing from predicted estimates based on the pure random chance of an event i.e. tripping over a low level pipe that you may or may not have passed over safely 100 times before. I have scored the probability as low because if it was a pipe that has always been there it should be clearly marked as a danger and known to employees working around it and scored the risk of damage as low to reflect the low risk of probability of falling over the pipe and causing injury or damage to equipment. (iii) I have selected residual risk, process risk and societal risk to cover this as all 3 risks or at least parts of them can be seen. Residual as all risks and dangers can be covered and measured but not account for a lightning strike, process risk as the chances of lighting striking are extremely low but the pure chance and randomness of the event prove the process risk element and societal risk as the local area may be affected be power cuts and disruptions to their everyday functions. I have scored the probability as low as the chances statistically of lightning striking are low but have scored the risk of damage as extremely high as damage to life and equipment could be irreversible. (iv) I have selected the radioactive leak as a societal risk as the potential ecological damage to the surrounding area would be detrimental, not only affecting local wildlife but also human life and in fact any other business or being that depended on the river. I have scored the probability as low as current nuclear Power stations operate under extremely strict safety laws and practises. This being said I have scored the probability of damage as 1 the highest possible as this sort of incident could not happen without massive amounts of damage. (v) I have scored this event very low on both damage and risk probability as the only risk present would be ordinary and since safety measures are in place i.e. emergency lighting I could not foresee a high risk or probability of danger. (vi) I have scored this risk as high as the risk is very high that damage or injury will occur. I have classed it as a ordinary industrial risk as it would be caused by employee’s everyday work and activity whilst carrying out their jobs or negligence thereof. (vii) A danger or risk of an event or action irrespective of being in line with science and fact can be seen as a residual risk, residual risks can and will conceive dangers, even if all possible measures of safety are theoretically applied. An example could be Hydrogen sulphide released from a pocket in the end of a blanked off pipe in a crude oil fractionation plant, and the societal risk would be placed on anyone in the direct area. 5. The incident in my opinion could very easily been avoided, to look at the reasons why I will discuss measures that I feel should have been in place and followed, and as a result of them not being followed the incident occurring. What where the operators training and skills? Was the operator fully trained to operate is this kind of hazardous environment? Could the operator have been trained but simply forget a crucial step by not replacing the man hole cover and put it down to human error. What was the HS culture like in the workplace? His own and the companies? Could this be to blame, was there a permit to work in operation? Safe system of work in operation? Had the operator read it and signed on. These are all vital steps that need to be taken into account when working in hazardous areas and are often over looked. These would have highlighted what he could do and how to complete the task, including replacing the manhole cover when not in use. Had the operator carried out this task before? If not should the operator been supervised by someone with experience of the job at hand? And should the operator been working alone at all? Should the vessel have been charged again with nitrogen before work began again to ensure/minimize low chance of ignition? As the manhole had been left open allowing air to fill the chamber. Could an intrinsically safe scraper rod have been used? One not causing a spark? Risk Assessment/COSHH assessments? Were any done? Had the user Followed â€Å"Safe working with flammable substances† regs and abided by the five principles of control; Ventilation Ignition sources Exchange of a flammable substance for a less flammable one Separation. Without knowing the answer to any of the questions above any of them could very easily caused the incident. In my personal opinion I would have put the incident down to not following safe working practise on the job, i.e. not replacing the manhole cover and not re-charging the vessel with nitrogen to minimise the chance of ignition.

Sustainable Development Essay -- Sociology Conservation Agriculture Es

Sustainable Development The term sustainable development was introduced in the 1987 report "Our Common Future". The World Commission on Environment and Development defined sustainable development as "development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". Different communities are organizing themselves to promote this ideology. They are combating the pressure of corporations’ economic practices, which damage the environment and living conditions. Corporations are taking over community farms. This is degrading the land due to the harsh agricultural processes used for mass production. The use of chemicals, found in pesticides, fertilizers, and herbicides causes strain on the land. The meat industry is one of those corporations responsible for soil erosion and land destruction. McDonalds and Burger King use lethal poisons to destroy vast areas of Central American rainforest, to create grazing pastures for cattle, to be sent back to the states as burgers and pet food, and to provide fast food packaging materials. It takes 800 square miles of forest just to keep them supplied with paper for one year. In an interview in the meat production plant in Costa Rica, it was found that Montecillos Cooperative produces 20 to 24 tons of meat for hamburgers per month to export to fast-food restaurants in United States. ( S.D. "Sergio Quintana: Meat plant manager") Among other environmental and social problems is land use management. In Mozambique, for a family to own a small piece of land is a great privilege. Over 80 percent of Mozambique’s 17 million people are peasants whose survival depends on the food they grow. In the 1990’s a peace treaty was sign... ...tional ways to work with the land and to re-establish our lost connection with nature as in the Andean region example. These changes and visions for a sustainable future are happening in every part of the world. The goal of sustainable development is to create a sense of responsibility towards other humans and nature and to promote the awareness that we only have a limited amount of resources, which need to be properly distributed. The most important aspect of sustainability is taking action in reflecting these ideas. Bibliography Conca Ken, Geoffrey D. Dabelko, Green Planet Blues, Westview Press 1998. Sustainable Development "Les Cheneaux Economic Forum" Witness Statement "Sergio Quintana: Meat Plant Manager" OXFAM America "U.S. and African Farmers Creating Co-Opportunities" OXFAM America "The Founding of Chuyma Aru: Reviving Andean Culture"

The Influences Parents Have On Thier Children Essay -- essays research

Throughout our lives we're influenced and taught by many. It can have an effect on the way we view problems and events within public boundaries. One of the most important and most effective influences children have in their lives occurs from their parents. The parents of a child can have both a positive and a negative influence on their lives. In this novel there are two very good examples of how parents can be an important influence on their children. Father of Jem and Scout Finch, Atticus Finch, plays the loving, caring and intelligent single parent, he is struggling to keep his family together. He is an example of how parents can have a positive influence on their children. Bob Ewell, father of Mayella Ewell, is the drunken, abusive, and careless father, Bob is also a single parent. He is an example of how a parent can be a negative influence on their children's lives. Both fathers are very influential on the mental growth of their children. Parents can influence how their children behave, feel, and act towards the outside world. If a child is brought up with hatred, anger and even violence, they can learn to view the world in a highly negative way, by being dangerous and prejudice towards others. However if a child is brought up with caring and nourishment, they can learn to see the world from all different points of views and angles. Atticus raises his children with love and care, and teaches them to consider all angles of a situation before they judge someone; "...

Kenya :: essays research papers

Kenya   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Kenya is a republic of East Africa. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean on the southeast. The capital of Kenya is Nairobi. It is located in the south central part of the country. It has a population of 1.5 million. The National Musum of Kenya, the National Theater and the University of Nairobi are in the city. Kenya has a humid type of climate with little temperature variation from month to month. The average annual temperature along the coast is 27 degrees celcius, but in Kenya Highlands it is only 14 degrees celcius. About three-fourths of Kenya recieves less than 500ml of rain a year. Most rain fall occurs during the â€Å"long rains† from March to May.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Kenya’s population is divided by language and culture into more than 40 different ethnic groups. The largest group is the Kikuyu which makes up 12 per cent of the population and is Bantu speaking. Swahili became the offical language of Kenya in 1974. It is grammatically a Bantu language even though it is heavily influenced of the population and is Bantu speaking. Swahili became the offical language of Kenya in 1974. It is grammatically a Bantu language even though it is heavily influenced by Arabic and is written with the Roman alphabet. English is also an official language and is still widely used.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Kenya has no official religion. More than 50 per cent of the population is Christian. Also, many of the people follow traditional religious practices. The population of Kenya was estimated to be about 27,000,000 in 1994. 85 per cent of the total population live in cities of Nairobi and Mombassa. Kenya has one of the highest rates of population growth in the world. It is predicted that the population may reach 120 million by the year 2050. This rapid rate of increase is due to the high birth rate and the low death rate. More than half of the population is under the age of fifteen. The rapid population growth has placed great strains on health facilities and other social services, especially in rural areas.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The main source of income for Kenya comes from agriculture. Coffee and tea are the most valuable crops. Together they account for approximately 50 per cent of all forigien exchange earnings. Because of the rapidly growing population, Kenya now imports large quantities of food, praticularly wheat. Unemployment is high. Expecally in the urban areas.

Advocacy in Human Services Essay

Under the Rainbow Inc. began when a group of four socially conscious people discovered a dire need for quality, unbiased welfare support without prejudice or borders and became an ‘incorporated association’ in February 2007. Since its inception, Under the Rainbow Inc. has been committed to excellence in the delivery of social welfare services based on their principles of charity, care and compassion. A range of services designed to promote independence and to enhance quality of life are provided by Under the Rainbow, all of which encompass care and support of local community members, in particular those who require relief from poverty and/or the dependents of any such persons. Advocacy is the primary role of case managers’ who volunteer at Under The Rainbow and in this human service setting and any other it is essential for services to be provided accurately. This essay will define advocacy in a human services context as well as discuss the type of advocacy that is beneficial to clients in this chosen human service setting. In conclusion, this essay will also describe issues that Under The Rainbow have encountered whilst implementing advocacy and change and the way the current political climate can effect their ability to engage in advocacy and deliver quality human services. Whilst the definition of advocacy in general is broad, in human service and social work practice advocacy is essentially the process of protecting human rights or to change discriminatory or abusive treatment to the vulnerable, whether working with an individual or a group (Corey, Corey & Callanan, 1998). Human service workers all act as advocates in the course of their work (Sorensen and Black, 2001) and the Australian Association of Social Workers ‘Code of Ethics’ (2002) supports this view citing, ‘The social worker will advocate for changes in policy, service delivery and social conditions which enhance the opportunities for those most vulnerable in the community’ however Forbat and Atkinson (2005) argue that advocacy is ‘not social work, but its principles and values resonate closely’. Regardless of ones  definition, the ‘key concept’ in the notion of any type of advocacy, is that it requires at least three parties: the client, the advocate and ‘the other side’ (School of Health and Human Services, 2007). Literature suggests that the differing types of advocacy seem as broad as its definition and a number of different types of advocacy exist, however within Under the Rainbow’s human service framework they are predominately concerned with ‘individual’ or ‘case’ advocacy. According to Hepworth & Larsen (1993), case advocacy is a way to ‘obtain resources or services for clients that would not otherwise be provided’ and this theory underlies Under the Rainbows belief that to advocate for a client is ‘to bring about some form of personal and/or social change’ (School of Health and Human Services, 2007). Under the Rainbow is a voluntary community based organisation which now boasts a membership of sixty-five individuals, many of whom work with clients as advocates for change. The goal for each volunteer who manages cases for Under the Rainbow is to promote fair, equal, and humane treatment through fundraising, charity provision (food and clothing), welfare work and social action against injustice for the disadvantaged. Under the Rainbow’s social work practice is mainly concerned with implementing changes in the local community to assist in poverty relief to predominately ‘voluntary’ clients (Barker, 1991), though some are referred. While the majority of Under the Rainbows’ charity work is concerned with ‘lending a hand’ materially and financially, they also work one-on-one with clients to determine why they ‘needed a hand’ in the first place and therefore consider both aspects of their human service delivery forms of ‘advocating’. However there is some argument as to whether charity and advocating is in fact the same thing. The assertion by L’Hirondelle (2002) that charity work ‘simply means offering one-on-one help without effort to give people the opportunity to participate in working with others to change their situation’ is challenged at Under the Rainbow who believe ’empowerment’ of a client is both valuable and essential. Individuals who seek help from Under the Rainbow often see themselves as ‘powerless’ and unable to make changes in their lives and sadly, those who are discriminated against, are often the most vulnerable. Under the Rainbow clients can be distinguished by many inequalities involving social issues in areas such as power, authority, and wealth, working and living conditions, health, lifestyle, gender, education, religion, and culture. Because the nature of Under the Rainbow is predominately a charity, they realise some of the clients who ask for welfare assistance will not want to be involved in any further actions for changing their situation and staff may only be required to ‘advocate’ once. However, they know from experience there are just as many of their clients who will want to get involved and connect with others in order to work together for social and personal ’empowerment’. To clarify empowerment further, Shulman (2005) states that the empowerment process involves ‘engaging the client, family, group, or community in developing strengths to personally and politically cope’ and a number of ’empowerment’ workshops and programmes covering issues such as budgeting, self-esteem and parenting are implemented at Under the Rainbow to facilitate this. Clients also often need help when dealing with other agencies and a Justice of the Peace service and help with letter writing, telephone and electronic correspondence is also offered. Often clients feel they have been treated unfairly by other advocacy and law agency’s and challenging another organisation’s reasoning, on a clients behalf or as an individual can be referred to as ‘persuasion advocacy’ (Reardon, 2001). Many times writing a letter or involving law enforcement agencies to negotiate a point has been successful for Under the Rainbow and their clients to further instil ’empowerment’. Therefore, Under the Rainbow staff believe offering an individual help, whether through the distribution of groceries or an activity similar to the ones discussed above, is seen as empowerment for social change. Under the Rainbow ‘advocate’ for and ’empower’ their clients, bringing people together where they are then able to take action to change their situation. Schneider  & Lester (2001) include empowerment in their definition as part of the practice of advocacy and conclude that ‘this value is based on the belief that individuals have strengths to acquire knowledge, become assertive, and develop skills, and through social work advocacy, these strengths can be set in motion’. Vanessa, who has worked with Under the Rainbow for nine months states, ‘when I interview clients, I encourage and pay attention to the capable person I see in front of me. My focus as an advocate is never on their previous history, as there is nothing I can do personally to change it. The importance for me is what the client wants from life and how it can be achieved’ (Pers comm. 2/4/08). Whilst working as an advocate Vanessa does not expect nor require a client to self-disclose, however they usually do, which Vanessa defines as a relationship based on trust and mutual respect. Respecting the privacy rights and confidentiality of Under the Rainbow’s clients is extremely important and they believe that excellent ethical conduct must be practiced in order to be a credible community advocate. Cultural, language, disability and other accommodations are also provided for. If personal conflicts of interest should occur the advocate will step aside and ask for help from another party. As Under the Rainbow is are self-regulating, ethical decision-making and the process of critical reflection, evaluation and judgment ‘through which a practitioner resolves ethical issues, problems and dilemmas’ (Trevino, 1986) is extremely important in both a personal and professional context. As well as individual and personal advocating, dissolving barriers and building a sense of community on a local level, Under The Rainbow promote ‘global consciousness’ and pride themselves on their broad worldview and high awareness of the inter-relatedness and sacredness of all living things. All Under the Rainbow Inc. members are active, both personally and professionally, in many social arenas confronting a broad range of social and political issues. Advocacy of this type, which refers to a connection with social movements’, is known as ‘activist’ or ’cause’ advocacy (Healy, 2000) and often involves ‘active criticism of or engagement with government  policies and practices’ (School of Health and Human Services, 2007). Many members of Under the Rainbow have strong lobbying and media skills and some of their more prominent contributions and support include subscriptions and memberships to other advocacy groups and organisations such as New Internationalist Magazine, Bush Heritage Australia, Amnesty International and Greenpeace as well as Indigenous organisations, animal and environmental protection groups and interests in many other diverse global activist platforms. Under the Rainbow has also purchased and helped plant thousands of trees in South East Queensland through the Queensland Folk Federation at the Woodford Folk Festival site. Under the Rainbow is self-sufficient and as yet to receive any government funding. Relying on donations from its members and the general public to support their services is successful, but often unpredictable and can cause frustration when resources are limited. However, being an incorporated association means that Under the Rainbow is only accountable to themselves, their donors, members, clients and community. Not being affiliated with any government, church or social agency means they are not subject to any other types of accountability usually required under public auspice and this is preferable. Under the Rainbows projects, which are both broad and long-range, draw only on individual and group advocacy skills from its membership pool, preferring to remain exclusive and not out-source help from other agencies. In recent years, new set of ideas, such as advocacy, consumerism, empowerment, participation, and anti-discriminatory practices have all influenced social work practice and this has had an impact on social work values. This new set of ideas is referred to as ‘radical values’ (Adams et al, 2002) and are concerned with challenging oppression and discrimination, it is within this value system that Under the Rainbow continues to operate. Advocacy is essentially the process of standing up for the rights of others who are being unfairly treated (Sorenson and Black, 2001) and has the potential to bring significant and sustainable change for the better. It can  empower individuals and communities and generate many resources whilst bringing diverse organisations together to work on common issues. Effective advocacy takes specific skills, commitment, effort, resources, perseverance, wisdom and collaboration all of which are faced by the Under the Rainbow volunteers on a daily basis. The case managers at Under the Rainbow realise they need to successfully master the skills needed to be an advocate, which takes time and experience. They are also aware that learning to be persuasive and using resources available to them will increase their level of competence and better assure a positive outcome for both themselves and their clients. I am proud to be a member of Under the Rainbow and my involvement in the challenging albeit very rewarding endeavours to facilitate advocacy for change in this small but powerful association. REFERENCE LIST Adams, R., Dominelli, L., & Payne, M., (2002). Social Work, Themes, Issues and Critical Debates (2nd ed.), Palgrave, Basingstoke. Australian Association of Social Workers (2002), Code of Ethics, Retrieved April 2nd, 2008, AASW Website: http://www.aasw.asn.au/adobe/about/AASW_Code_of_EthicsCorey, G., Corey, M., & Callanan, P., (1998). Issues and Ethics in the Helping Professions, Brooks/Cole, USA. Forbat, L., & Atkinson, D., (2005). Advocacy in Practice: The Troubled Position of Advocates in Adult Services, British Journal of Social Work, 35:3, pp. 321-335Healy, K., (2000). Social Work Practices: Contemporary Perspectives on Change, Sage, London. Hepworth, D., & Larsen, J., (1993). Direct Social Work Practice: Theory andSkills (4th ed.) The Dorsey Press, Homewood, Illinois. Trevino, L.K., (1986). Ethical Decision making in Organizations: A Person-Situation Interactionist Model, The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 601-617. L’Hirondelle, C., (2002), Characteristics of Remedial Work vs. Social Change, Retrieved April 4th 2008, Victorian Status of Women (SWAG) Website: http://pacificcoast.net/~swag/index.htmlReardon, K.K., (1991), Persuasion in Practice, Sage Publications, Newbury Park, California. Schneider, R.L., & Lester, L., (2001). ‘Advocacy: A New Definition’, Social Work Advocacy, Brooks/Cole Publishing, Pacific Grove: California. School of Health and Human Services, (2007). Study Guide: Advocacy and Change, Southern Cross University, Lismore. Shulman, L., (2005). Skills of Helping Individuals, Families, Groups and Communities, Wadsworth Publishing Company, USA. Sorenson, H., & Black, L., (2001). Advocacy and Ageing, Australasian Journal on Aging, Vol. 20.3, Supplement 2, pp. 27-34.

Effectiveness Of Anti-Smoking Advertisement Essay

Out of the total business of Tobacco in the world (i.e. $ 27 billion a year), 50% amount of the total turnover is being spent on marketing of the products (U.S. FTC _Cigarette Report_ 2007). The total deaths due to smoking were 100 million in the 20th Century. If precautions are not taken, it may go up-to one billion in the 21st Century against the present count of 5.4 million deaths as per WHO report, Feb.8 (Xinhua). The WHO report also says that governments earn as revenue more than 500 times than what these spend on non-smoking campaigns. The turnover targets of the tobacco industry also calls for anti smoking charitable organizations to prevent smoking for the freshers and take into confidence the regular smokers to quit. Different Messages should be used to impress people and these should be very much effective through a research. All these messages should reach the people through an outdoor campaigning or through radio, television or distribution of printed pamphlets. Public Relation shall also help you to contact the affected persons. Besides these, Internet contacts and meetings on the public places shall also help you to achieve the targets. 1. BACKGROUND AND PROBLEM DEFINITION Smoking is highly detrimental to health. Regular smoking can lead to serious diseases like lung cancer and chronic heart diseases. It reduces productivity of smokers and hence of organizations in which they are working which in turn hampers the economic growth of the country. The same effects are applicable on second-hand or passive smoker also. A lot of resources of any economy are diverted curing different diseases of active and passive smokers. Such resources could have been diverted towards other productive activities. The possible ways of reducing smoking and hence reducing its negative impact may be: (a) increasing the prices of cigarettes substantially by imposing huge taxes on cigarettes; (b) banning cigarettes  in public places. However, cigarette smoking is an addiction and its demand is relatively price inelastic and thus option (a) has limited scope to reduce smoking. Banning smoking in public places has also limited scope because individuals have the liberty to smoke in private without any major decrease in smoking. To compel individuals to reduce or quit smoking, an effective approach is through advertisement campaigns highlighting the ill-effects of smoking. However, advertisement campaigns will be successful in their objectives only when they are effectively designed and communicated. Since advertisement campaigns involve huge expenditure, it should give the maximum benefit in terms of large reduction in number of smokers. That is, advertisement campaigns should be cost-effective. Thus, designing an effective advertisement campaign is of prime importance for the benefit of any society or economy. This project is an attempt in this direction. This project aims to suggest what a successful anti-smoking advertisement campaign should contain? When the smoking statistics is analyzed for UK, it is observed that it is the highest amongst the persons who aged 20-34 years. Around 35% of persons (both men and women) in the age group of 20-34 years smoke. The lowest smoking rate is amongst the persons who aged 60 and above. Around 16% of the persons in the age group of 60 and above smoke. When the smoking rate amongst the adults is analyzed, it is found out that 29% of men and 25% of women amongst adults smoke. The figure does not look to an alarming when we compare the same with 1974 figures when 51% of men and 41% of women (that is nearly 50% of the adult population in UK) smoked cigarettes (UK SMOKING STATISTICS, www.nonsmokingday.org.uk). Thus, in the recent years the decline in smoking has been mostly concentrated amongst older population. More matured smokers are quitting smoking where as many youths are joining the smoking group. Smoking statistics further show that lower socio-economic group people smoke more than the people in the professional group. 39% of men and 34% of women in lower socio-economic group smoke as compared with 15% of men and 13% of women in professional group (UK SMOKING STATISTICS, www.nonsmokingday.org.uk). The smoking statistics in the age group of 11-15 years show that 6% of UK population in this age group smokes regularly in 2007. However, the regular smoking rate was 16% in 1977 in the age group of 11-15 year. Amongst the 15-year-old population, the smoking rate declined from 25% in 1982 to 20% in 2006 and further to 15% in 2007 (www.ash.org.uk). Thus to persuade the individuals further to quit smoking to increase their productivity and to apprise them about harmful effects of smoking, an effective advertisement campaign should be designed. Different advertisement campaigns should be designed to target different section of society. The segmentation should be done on the basis of age, sex and socio-economic status. Since in UK the maximum smoking rate is amongst the youth and lower socio-economic group, the maximum amount of UK anti-smoking advertisement budget should be kept for these two groups. Since the maximum smoking rate in UK is amongst the persons who aged 16 to 50 years, this project aims at describing the process for designing the effective anti smoking advertisement campaigns for the smokers who are in this age group. The variables which are very important for any advertisement campaign are: (a) content; (b) consistency; (c) clarity; and (d) reach (Sissors JT, Bumba L. _Advertising Media Planning_, 1989). Primarily the advertisement campaign should contain the harmful effects of smoking which should be targeted at different sections of the society in terms of their demographic profile. The content regarding highlighting negative impacts of smoking can be classified as below: The advertisements that highlight the adverse long-term effects of smoking in the health of smokers such as smoking causing diseases like lung cancer and other chronic heart problems. Advertisements that discuss the adverse effects in the short-run such as foul  breath and rejection while the smoker is involved in the romance. Advertisements that describe the false tactics employed by the cigarette companies to sell cigarettes which is a destructive and addictive product. The advertisement should emphasize that cigarette companies are illegally targeting minors and making false claims that cigarettes are non-addictive. Advertisements that involve role models who describe ill-effects of smoking. Advertisements that highlight the adverse effects of second hand smoke or passive smoking on children, friends and other family members. Advertisements that show smokers as the persons who have preferred unattractive and unhealthy life style. Advertisements that involve celebrities and showing that these celebrities are refusing to smoke. This project describes the approach that should be adopted while designing effective concepts of advertising to quit smoking. The approach is designed to help organizations which are involved in choosing the concepts of advertising for a campaign, the main objective of which is to motivate smokers to quit or to make an attempt to quit smoking. The approach is very appropriate for market research. The main objective of the approach is to conduct the market test for finding out the most appropriate advertisement for a particular market or target group. This may be achieved by analyzing the different advertisements which have already been developed in the past. The approach is based on the assumption that the persons who are watching these advertisements could be youth or adults, men or women, smokers or non-smokers. Different advertising campaigns should be designed for targeting different  sections of the society. The campaign which may be effective for adults, the same campaign may not be effective for youths. The project is further divided into four sections. Section 2 discusses the research objectives of the study. Section 3 explains the research methodology of the study. Section 4 provides the data analysis and empirical results while section 5 gives the recommendations 2. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES The main objective of this research is to assess different advertisement in terms of their ability to fulfill certain objectives of advertisement campaign. This objective can be achieved only if the research analyses reactions to different advertisements. The reactions to each of the advertisements can be analyzed on the following parameters: Whether the advertisement will be noticed by the smokers (Attention) Whether the smokers will find the advertisement as relevant to them (Identification) The kind of message that will be conveyed to smokers through the advertisement (Communication) The impact that the advertisement will have on smoking (Effect). The objectives of the advertisement will determine the objectives of research on communication and effect parameters. That is, If the main objective of the campaign is to provide awareness about the harmful effects of smoking – the objective is to find the advertisements which have the maximum potential to provide awareness about the effects of smoking on health. If the objective of the campaign is to encourage smokers to stop smoking –  the objective is to find the advertisements which have the maximum potential to encourage smokers towards quitting of cigarettes. If the objective of the campaign is to enhance awareness of harmful effects of passive smoking – the objective is to determine the advertisements which have the maximum potential to increase awareness of the ill-effects of second hand smoke. If the objective of the campaign is to develop or support smoke-free policies – the objective is to find out which advertisements have the maximum capacity to enhance support these smoke-free policies. The unintended effects of advertisements amongst smokers and persons outside the target audience group should also be identified by the research. 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY A focus group discussion approach has been used to conduct the research. In focus group discussion method, there is an involvement of several groups of persons from the target audience. Groups are segmented in terms of their demographic profiles. Persons of the group are encouraged to fruitfully discuss different possible advertisements. Experiences, attitudes and opinions are discussed in the focus groups. Various views are exchanged and explored during the discussion. The main advantage of the context of the group is the ability of group dynamics to bring new ideas and to encourage the debate on the issue. To successfully address the research objectives, minimum four group discussions should be conducted. The complexities involved in the target audience of campaign and the segmentation of the participants determine the number of groups that should be involved while conducting the research. _SEGMENTATION:_ The first task in designing the research is to determine the target audience.  This is followed by finding out the most suitable approach that will be used to segment the target audience into different groups. The segmentation is done on the basis of demographic profile such as age and sex. The following segmentation may be used if the objective of the campaign is to motivate smokers who aged 16 to 50 years to quit smoking. To design the research project and the inclusion of the participants in different groups, the following procedure should be adopted: Different groups should include only smokers (that is those who smoke at least five cigarettes in a day). Occasional smokers should not be included. Only those smokers should be included who are thinking to quit smoking in the next one year or some other time in the future. Smokers who are resistant to change should not be included. Only those smokers who represent suitable socio-demographic profiles should be included to reflect the smoking population. That is, all smokers should be from lower socio-economic group if the target group represents lower socio-economic status. People who are involved in promotion of healthy programmes, market research or having employment in cigarette companies should not be included. To design the project and the inclusion of participants, in addition to the above, some additional criteria are also worth considering. Consideration of these additional criteria will depend upon the characteristics of the smoker population, objectives of communication of the advertisements and the specific campaign’s aims. These additional criteria might contain the followings: Whether the conduct of the research should be in different locations, such as rural or urban or semi-urban. Whether the parents who are smokers should be included. Whether non-smokers and ex-smokers should be included in the research. In each focus group discussion, normally there is a recruitment of eight to  ten smokers. Many times it is better to recruit ten persons as all the people who are recruited will not attend at the given time and one should expect that seven or eight persons will attend. The constructive discussion on the issues and fruitful interaction may be held with this number. _GROUP DISCUSSION APPROACH:_ A room or a hall should be used for conducting group discussion. The group discussion needs to be arranged in a TV room where participants can see TV each other and the faculty. The discussions should be recorded for further review and analysis; if this is not possible proper notes should be drawn after each group. The research assistant shall fill-up a form after completion of each group which will contain the group number, advertisement name and member. Participants shall introduce themselves to each other and further explanation shall be given by the in charge of the group. The participants shall be distributed a set of forms for each Ad and final page after rating of all the advertisements. Each member shall view each of the advertisements and rate the same to have an individual decision without any pressure of the group. This shall result in healthier discussions in the group for exploration in detail. The tape of the advertisement for all the ads shall be run twice and stopped and the participants make ratings thereafter. Thereafter, the in charge of the group shall ask all the participants to complete the final page of rating and collect the same. The order of displaying the ads should be charged to overcome the similarly of preferential order in which these are present. It is necessary for the organizer to record the different number and name of the ad on the top before handing over. Afterwards, he will keep the ads in the order these are shown for each group. The ads should bear a short title in the requisite space before handing over the forms. Conversation between the participants and the moderator shall be held through open discussions where participants shall have freedom to speak openly. Participants may face different questions from the moderator. Research Assistant shall keep record notes of the discussions and observations, which shall based on attention, identification and communication of the smokers and lastly the effect of the ad or the smokers. The Research staff should take notes, include quotations from participants and make concluding observations from the groups as per the themes give below: Whether the advertisement will be noticed by the smokers. Whether the smokers will find the advertisement as relevant to them. What kinds of messages will be conveyed to the smokers. Whether there will be effect of the advertisement on smoking. Whether there will be any unintended consequences of the advertisement. 4. DATA NALYSIS AND EMPIRICAL RESULTS: _RATING SHEETS:_ After the completion of all the groups, all the rating sheets should be collated and the analysis of results should begin. The percentage of persons who rightly identify the core message of the advertisement in either of the first two questions should also be calculated for each advertisement. Calculation should also be made for the percentage of persons who made definitely incorrect interpretation of the core message. This will provide the numerical scores for the themes of communication and unintended consequences. The scorer should decide in advance what is the core message of each advertisement and what will be taken as a correct core message to determine how to score responses of the people. The percentage of persons  who agree or disagree with each advertisement should be computed for each advertisement. A summary of the preferences of the people should be made by comparing these percentages for each advertisement. The percentage of persons who declared each advertisement as the most effective to quit or making an attempt to quit smoking should be computed on the final advertisement rating page. The same kind of rigorous analysis can be conducted by computing the percentage of each demographic group in terms of males and females, adults and youths etc. _GROUP DISCUSSION_ : After the completion of all the groups, the note taking form prepared by the Research Staff should be collated. The core themes and research objectives should be taken into account while analyzing results for each advertisement. The results should be analyzed in terms of the following parameters: Attention Relevance Message Effect Unintended consequences It should be ensured that from each group, all the issues and opinions have been taken into consideration. This can be achieved by taking additional notes (if required) after listening or watching the recordings of each group. One should consider only the opinions which are the most common. It is very important to judge whether an advertisement will be effective or not if only a mall number of participants express their opinions. It should be ensured by the researcher that all ranges of responses have been taken into account and not just the responses that confirm already  established findings and conclusions. When advertisements are compared and preferences are considered, it should be taken into account that the most liked advertisement of the group may not necessarily the best advertisement or anti smoking campaign. The advertisement should be effective and not necessarily liked by the participants. The advertisement which achieves the most objectives of the campaign is considered as the best advertisement. For this, advertisement needs to be noticed, to be relevant, to be able communicate the desired message and to prompt smokers to quit smoking. _COMBINED RESEARCH INFORMATION:_ To select the advertisement, which is most likely to fulfill the campaign objectives, the results obtained from the rating sheets and the discussion analysis should be combined and compared. The analysis of rating sheets will tell about comparison of the different advertisements on different important dimensions. The analysis of focus group discussion will explain about these differences. 5. RECOMMENDATIONS: While designing the effective advertisement campaign, one should take into account the target group for which the advertisement campaign has been designed. The campaign which is more effective for adults, may not necessarily effective for youths. While designing the advertisement campaign for youths, it should contain the following message themes – romantic rejection, smokers as negative role models, ill-effect of passive smoking, celebrities refusing to smoke, involvement of role models describing the ill-effects of smoking. When targeting adults, the ‘Emotional Consequences’ campaign will be more effective as it will make them think about the impact of their smoking on children, friends and other family members. In last, it is recommended that one should conduct the effects of advertisement campaign on outcome. Thus, pre and post test of any advertisement campaign should be conducted. REFERENCES: Teenage Smoking attitudes in 1996. Office for National Statistics, 1997 Goddard, E. General Household Survey 2006: Smoking and drinking among adults 2006. Office for National Statistics, 2008. Drug use, smoking and drinking among young people in England in 2007. The Information Centre for Health and Social Care, 2007 View report Bewley B.R, Day I, Ide L. Smoking by children in Great Britain. MRC Social Science Research Council, 1972. Dobbs J, Marsh A. Smoking among secondary schoolchildren. HMSO, 1982. Hamilton JL. The demand for cigarettes: advertising, thehealth scare, and the cigarette advertising ban. _Review of Economics and Statistics_ 1974;54:401-11. Lewit EM, Coate D, Grossman M. The effects of government regulation on teenage smoking. _Journal of Law and Economics_ 1981;24:545-69. 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