Crisis De-escalation Team

A lot change of initiatives have been developed over the years on different ways to manage escalating crisis in the psychiatric hospital wards and there are triggers to these violence, aggression and crisis that often escalate and end up resulting to using restrictive practices. In response to these violence and aggression from the service users on the ward and physical intervention used to manage the behaviour, Crisis de-escalation team change initiative proposal will aim at the triggers to violence, minimise rising behaviours from escalating, improving quality of care provided to the service users by healthcare professionals and ultimately meeting the needs of service users to reduces distress. This intended change implementation initiative will draw references from Centre for the Advancement of Positive Behaviour Support on the organisation's crisis reduction strategy; references will also be drawn from Royal College of Nursing Consultation on guidance to the minimisation of and alternatives to restrictive practices in health and adult social care. The change initiative will recognise the fact that service users will engage in challenging behaviours because of their unmet needs, exposure to environment and interactions which they may disagree with or find challenging to their believes and often have generally less quality of life. Often times people's behaviour represent a desperate attempt to change the status quo, do things their own way or attempt to meet their own unmet needs. Background There are rising incidents of aggression and violence from the service users on the ward. This report is based on accuracy observations incident reports on the ward and research/ data analysis carried out, which shows that about 9 in 10 of service users interviewed on the ward agreed that aggressive challenging behaviours from service users have increased and healthcare professionals unanimously agreed to that. These are negative attitude and challenging behaviours that can better be managed if the ward has a plan to tackle the causes or better known as triggers. Change proposal to implement Crisis De-escalation Team in an intensive care unit (ICU) ward of a mental health hospital will challenge triggers of aggression and crisis from escalating and manage the situation. It will further help to limit the frequent use of restrictive practices and reduce isolation of service users that exhibited challenging and unmanageable behaviour. Crisis De-escalation Team is not about stopping any specific interventions, nor to have general overhaul of existing practices, but it is rather to have some ward based healthcare professionals specifically trained to identify potential crisis and the triggers, then be ready to step in at any escalating situation on the ward, engage with the situation and everyone involved and de-escalate the issue. The change initiative was motivated through research studies that showed likely change implementation was successful in psychiatric hospital wards in Australia and home treatment team unit in an NHS trust in London.According a review carried out by Australian Mental health commission (2014) on evaluation studies of crisis escalation and restraint reduction programmes, it identified that increasing staff level and implementation of crisis de-escalation/resolution team is successful on reducing the regular and duration of seclusion and restraint use while maintaining safe environment on the ward. Crisis de-escalation team should comply with all the policy protocols, ensures the ward and trust standard are maintained with regards to quality of services provided, work to ensure the safety of everyone on the ward, encourage other colleagues and ward management to consider their approach to resolving crisis. They will assess the situation and if necessary call for restrictive measures to be used which will be evidence based, reasonable and justified. The crisis de-escalation team will be part of the ward staff team and will be directly involved in the service user's care, they are also required to fulfil other functions on the ward as a full staff member as to dilute their abilities not focusing on deescalation team duties only.Employees that will be part of this crisis de-escalation team will receive training and on-going training on new proposed change while retaining their full time staff employment on the ward. This is to ensure that ward does not lack the resources and understaffed while the training is on-going and change implementation is rolled out on the ward.Funding for this change initiative will come from the ward budget, manager being part of the change champions will facilitate the fund. It is important to note that the change does not call for more employment rather it asked for special training given to the staff implementing the change. Encouragement to fund this change will be from the positive feedbacks from consultation of the ward management and healthcare professionals, and it was also the major drive towards the proposed change implementation strategy. Methodology The description and analysis of the research studies are evidence based which were rallied through qualitative data, detailed accounts of an actual experience and observations, also through implementation of ideas and resourcefulness from a success elsewhere in Australia, America and hospital ward in Scotland. The implementation was assimilated into a draft restructure practice strategy. Fifteen of the research studies carried out was a retrospective analysis that examined incidents on the ward through incident reports and restrictive practices used, but in some cases additional information was obtained from descriptive statistics gotten from other sources.Nineteen research studies were rallied from questionnaires or data that are collected on a periodic basis to obtain information, and 10 of them are done through qualitative research methodology. Twenty research studies were focused on the instances where less restrictive measures was used to deescalate challenging situations and the method that was applied. The research involved a comparison of outcomes on the more use of restrictive practices and less restrictive practices used on the ward to analyse the effectiveness of each these measures before, during and after it was applied.The research studies were conducted in 3 different Intensive Care Units (ICU) in a psychiatric hospital/ward. Research studies were also done in an acute inpatient ward and early intervention unit within the psychiatric hospital.Definition of the change proposal Crisis de-escalation team is about having special trained staff on the ward that will be designated to manage the triggers of aggression and crisis, engage with service users in polite and calm manner to better understand their point of view and seek for possible alternatives to stop the crisis from escalating. The team should employ empathy and compassion, know what to do and say at any situation, respecting the crisis circle, remained composed, cool and calm when dealing with crisis and try to resolve the situation without applying the use of restrictive practices.Violence can sometimes arise unexpectedly on the ward and overwhelmed everyone; it is true to say that when healthcare professionals are overwhelmed and understaffed they are likely to react in such a manner that may escalate the crisis. Implementing the crisis de-escalation team is to also reduce tension, minimise any panic and frustration from staff members when they are face with circumstances beyond their control.When it come using restrictive practices to manage these ongoing rising challenging behaviours on the ward, healthcare professionals have often struggled to come up with explanations to justify what accounts to good practice on restrictive practice in the context of keeping everyone on the ward safe. Barriers to change implementation Barriers to the change implementation were encountered mainly from three different areas, hospital management, what need to change and the employees. Before a successful change strategy can be developed, barriers to the change need to be identified.n? Employees unwillingness to embrace change? Employees resistance to change? Ineffective communication strategy? Ward Financial shortfall and funding ? Shortage of staff and shift patterns? Lack of understanding of what needs to change and knowledge of skills needed for the implementation? Employees fear of the unknown.Overcoming the barriers to change implementation Identifying the barriers to the proposed change and how to overcome them is a good step towards achieving successful implementation of planned change initiative.Ways to overcome to overcome these barriers are follows: Effective communication strategy:- There should be a clear and honest communication to employees and the stakeholders about what need to change and why it needed to change. Employees should be explained probably benefits the change will bring to them and hospital ward.†¢ Good Leadership:- This is needed for the change implementation to be successful. Employees need to be carried along and be involved in the change process. As some employees are reluctant to embrace change, they should be made to understand why the change is better than status quo and why it is necessary. Training should be provided to the volunteered employees that will Help drive the change forward. Also awareness is very important because healthcare professionals on the ward need to understand the planned change goals, targets and the strategies of implementing the change.†¢ Provision of incentives and resources to help drive healthcare professionals towards the change, this will be a motivating strategy to get them on-board with the change. Simplifying the planned change initiative:- It should not be complex to understand and implement. The change should be localised, small but meaningful change that will not require a lot more staff than already existed. The implementation will not be made to result in big shakeups within the ward and should be phased. Whom the proposed change initiative will benefit/affect Based on the index analysis, research studies and observations at the ward on the restrictive practices, the proposed change initiative (crisis deescalation team) will benefit everyone on the ward including the service users, employees and management. How the proposed change will be implemented Identifying the barriers to proposed change initiative and overcoming the barriers is a good step towards the successful implementation of the change.The change implementation is planned and will happen by incremental change. Based on evidence, experts opinion and research analysis have proven that implementation of a successful change in a hospital ward is always difficult and challenging because of complex relationships that exists stakeholders, management, managers and healthcare professionals. Despite these barriers, any small meaningful change that will bring about evidence based best practice to positively improve the quality of care provided the service users on the ward is worth implementing and evaluated to monitor the progress.†¢ Support and approval from the leadership for the change initiativeSometimes good change initiatives ended up not been implemented because there was no leadership support for it. Getting the leadership support and the stakeholders on the board with the proposed change initiative is a huge step in the implementation stage of the proposed change initiative, the need for the change should to be properly communicated to the ward manager, and a case on need for the change to happen should be communicated to the manager. Data analysis, surveys based on observations and research findings should be presented to the manager and the leadership team on the ward to get them involved in the change initiative plan.With the manager's approval for the change to happen, the manager will therefore help to resolve conflicts of interests and negotiate with the stakeholders to help make the case why the change initiative is needed to be implemented on the ward. The manager as part of the agent for the change should appoint leaders of the change initiative, and will help provide the tools, skills and training, and possibly the funding for the change from the budget or increase in the budget. Identifying the proposed Change agentsVolunteers will be identified within the ward and it will be ward employees that will be trained to help champion the proposed change. They should be given the chance to decide on their own to become the change agents and will work closely with the ward manager for provision of information and resources needed to push forward with the change. Communication and awarenessThe appointed leaders of the change will use all communication methods (Mass, interactive and face to face) to explain what need to change is an important step in change implementation. These involves ? Explaining the change initiative to the employees and everyone that will be impacted on the change initiative.? There should be an open dialogue to entertain concerns, questions and individual opinions on the change initiative.? There should be a constant reminder and follow-up of the planned change initiative. Skills and learning required for the implementation Training will be provided to healthcare professionals that will champion the change initiative. There are private training institutions (BSI) that offers best training in crisis management planning, with the approval of the manager, the volunteered staff will undertake short course training. Also other trust provided practical courses on crisis resolution should be provided to enable them know when and to put their knowledge into action. This is to carry out best evidence based practice on de-escalate the triggers of violence and aggression from service users.Although the team members of this change initiative will be on voluntary basis, the ward manager will provide incentives to team members of this change as an encouragement and motivation. Implementing change initiative through engaging employees and healthcare professionals at all level within the ward.All the change agents including the manager, stakeholders and volunteered champions of change will actively engage with every staff member on the ward. This will be to create a better understanding of why this change initiative is very important and how it is small necessary step towards resolving the rising violence and aggression from service users. This change implementation is bottom-up approach and will require genuine interest and participation from the employees, employees are the ones that have been directly affected by the status quo and will be impacted more from the new change initiative. Healthcare professionals will to be motivated to participate fully in the change implementation timeline and initial goal plans. Monitor the implementation, examine the results and recognise the successEarly stages of implementation will be closely monitored to assess strengths and challenges; there will be follow ups and reviews. There will be surveys and audits carried out to compare the status quo and change, this will be done to know if the change is having the expected outcome and also know if there are areas of the change that will require further improvement. Change champions will be encouraged and motivated through celebration of change success. Momentum will be built on the change by rewarding the employees that are championing the change implementation. Other staffs will be encouraged to become part of the change team; this is to reduce any change resistance that may exist within the employees and create way for successful change implementation.

Courage Essay

Every human being on this planet is unique and different but we are all born with the gift of courage. However there are very few who take advantage of that gift. Courage is the ability to work one’s way through a tough situation, be it mental or physical. We all have faced or witnessed tough challenges before. Th difference, however, is that some people tend to give up when the goings get rough, while others keep on. People commit acts of courage on a daily basis, many of them without even realizing it. Today I will talk to you about an event in particular. Imagine playing hockey with a bunch of boys and being the only girl it’s very difficult, even more then it sounds. I was the only girl on the team and most of the boys would refuse to pass the puck to me or even tell me when I did a good play. This didn’t bother me very much because I knew I would just have to work harder to prove them wrong, it was a challenge I was ready to take on. Half the season was done and everyone got to know me better and most of the team started to be friends with me, except one. His name was Aidan, he had blonde hair and blue eyes. He would always insult me before and after practice, in front of the rest of our team but they would never say anything to the coaches. Yes it was difficult to not let it get to me but I would always tell myself to just let it go. One day before our game he came up to me while I was alone and started insulting me and swearing at me. My only defence was to stand up for myself and tell him what I thought, I pinned hi m against the wall and told him how bullying people isn’t gonna make himself feel better and that he should stop immediately. After that day, he never bugged me again and that act of courage changed my life for the better. Courage is a necessity to the evolution of our people. Without courage, African-Americans would still be stuck I’m slavery. There would be no one there to fight for the rights of the people we now consider equals. Courage can be found I’m various forms. Courage is the only thing that gets us through the hard times, and the tempting opportunities. Courage is vital to the evolution of the human population. It os also an essential quality to becoming a successful person.

Dramatic Tension in this final act Essay

Perplexed still, we get the impression that John Proctor wants his life but cannot stand having a guilty conscience. Elizabeth perhaps adds to his puzzlement, â€Å"I want you living John. That’s sure†. This is the first real emotion we have seen between them in the play. Elizabeth’s words finally persuades John to save himself, and as he confess’ Rebecca Nurse is brought in. Her presence makes John ashamed and guilty, especially when asked â€Å"Did you ever see Rebecca Nurse with the devil? † He is under immense pressure and when at last he is asked for his signed testimony we realise another factor as to why he took the ultimate sacrifice. â€Å"Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I live and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul, leave me my name! † The presence of Rebecca Nurse, a saint in his eyes, the importance of his name are all important factors as to why John Proctor gives up his life, but he also realises he will die a good man. It is the one good thing he can do for Elizabeth after all the pain he has caused her. There is a dignity in what he is doing for himself, Elizabeth and his own community. He is an important figure in his society and by standing up to the corruption and being brave enough he is truly doing the right thing but not just for himself. The last act shows John proctor’s emotions and his own physical bodily actions ‘in agony’, but when he tears up his false testimony his can stand up straight for the first time. His death will also bring redemption from his own guilt. He has made a statement as to how un-just and corrupt their justice system was, and by leaving behind a world of prosecution and pragmatism he has become a man of principle. In act four, John Proctor decides to give up his own life rather than confess to being with the devil falsely. We encounter Proctor as a different character, a martyr, almost Christ like. Procter wavers, and at one stage he wants his life, â€Å"I will have my life†, but at the last minute he tears up his confession to save his integrity. Arthur Miller builds up the tension in the last act by using the interaction of characters, language and stage directions. Arthur Miller reveals a character’s innermost thoughts and feelings. In comparison to Act two, when Elizabeth and John Proctor’s conversation had been confrontational and short plagued by the crime John had committed, in the last act when they meet for the final time, they act truly in love and this is portrayed by the stage directions given to the actors. John is described to be ‘weak of body’, but seems to be stronger here than at any other time in the play.

Economics-(hurricane katerina)(about crimes and rebild plans) Essay

Economics-(hurricane katerina)(about crimes and rebild plans) - Essay Example In New Orleans, several houses were damaged and no authority made any effort to address this situation. On the other hand, the city planners were planning to demolish houses that had been damaged in the floods. According to official statistics, more than one thousand eight hundred people had lost their life, during the Hurricane Katrina disaster. The city officials failed to remove the cadavers from the ruined houses, and these corpses were allowed to decompose in the flood – damaged houses. Even, several weeks after the storm, dead bodies were to be found in many places (One year since Hurricane Katrina: New Orleans left to rot, 2006). There were no plans made to rebuild New Orleans, even after a year had elapsed, after this terrible storm. Moreover, the situation obtaining in the other affected areas along the Gulf Coast was no different. There were no efforts by the authorities to locate the thousands of residents who had been rendered homeless by the storm and who had consequently left the place. The nation’s administration failed to take restorative measures in these storm affected areas (One year since Hurricane Katrina: New Orleans left to rot, 2006). The state and local officials were looking for help from Washington. The federal government, state and local governments allowed the situation in New Orleans to deteriorate further, after the Hurricane Katrina storm. However, tourist places and wealthy areas were rebuilt immediately after the storm. The federal aid was apportioned by the financial actors and social lawyers. The majority of the working class people, who were the victims of the storm, were by and large granted no help, whatsoever (One year since Hurricane Katrina: New Orleans left to rot, 2006). This glaring injustice was succinctly brought forth by Newsweek, which described the official initiative as, â€Å"mostly an opportunity for Southern companies owned by GOP campaign contributors to make some money in New Orleans.† (One year since

Negotations for a home Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Negotations for a home - Research Paper Example Different criticisms have emerged on different participants in the allowing of such risky trading, but a nearly unanimous indictment of the authorities and commercial interests raises concerns on the safety of the industry into the future. These historic factors alongside other economic considerations that the majority of Americans continue to experience in the housing sector expose home ownership negotiations to a unique and challenging setting. According to economic times in the US and around the world today, households increasingly find it difficult to support capital expenditure that was the case slightly before the mortgage-precipitated volatility. Levels of employment continue to hit record month-to-month lows since the origin of economic crisis. Disposable income among the young generations in need of housing seems to fluctuate with the developments in the market and economic performance figures. Austerity measures embarked by the government illustrate the levels of economic volatility, which raises fears of the future of the economy and the implications that huge expenditures would have on economic stability at the household level. The low rate of economic recovery makes it unpredictable for jobholders to estimate how long they can remain in a job. Fears of mass layoffs within the austerity provisions therefore make it difficult for house buyers to make the correct timing when they are most stable in such expenditure . World economy performance as analyzed by observers still remain unpredictable, with reliable data sighting further recovery difficulty in the months ahead (Hirshleifer and Siew, 2009). With the developments of the economic struggles in Europe, world economy remains an issue of consideration by important expenditure decisions. When such domestic and international economic profiles indicate troublesome business environment, it implies that the real estate and the housing

The Movie Gandhi Directed by Richard Attenborough Review

The Gandhi Directed by Richard Attenborough - Movie Review Example Gandhi’s methods never promoted violence and danger; instead, he was a strong believer in passive resistance. The Indians then carried out a series of non-violent protest campaigns against the British rule, there were however, several instances where the Indians were violently hurt by law-keeping agencies that condemned the protests, in some cases there were killings too; An example of this could be the mass slaughter at Jalianwala Baagh (also known as Amritsar Massacre) where the Indian protesters were ordered to be shot by Brigadier Reginald Harry Dyer. Gradually, these protests and riots created many problems for the British who were put under a lot of pressure and could not cope with all of it considering World War 2 had taken its toll on their economy and their hold on the Indian Sub-Continent could not be financed further. The Indians gained their independence and their rights. â€Å"Human rights, it is said, are the rights to which everyone is entitled simply to being human†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Claude, Richard P, and Burns H. Weston, p52). But there were many issues and problems within the region and social structure of the region itself that had to be dealt with before peace could be properly restored. There was religious and social intolerance between the Muslims and Hindus of India, and the movie depicts this intolerance in the form of riots and violence. In light of these activities, Gandhi declared a hunger strike until the fighting stopped. Eventually, it is decided that in order to end the killings and violence and the constant threat to both Hindu and Muslim lives, the Indian Sub-Continent will have to be divided between the two majorities. This partition led to the creation of Pakistan in 1947. The movie shows the resentment of the Hindus on the idea of partitioning their ‘Mother India’ in the form of train massacres and capture of migrants migrating to their respective homelands. The Muslims retaliated in much the same way. Gandh i tried to restore peace between the two newborn countries and as a result, received resentment for his actions from small segments of both countries, one of them eventually reaching close enough to assassinate him. Gandhi is shown as a non-violent, disciplined man with values of leadership that allowed him to be seen as a hero and a peaceful revolutionary who believed in fighting with words rather than guns and ammunition. He is joined by Mohammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan and it’s the first president, who is also shown as a man of revolutionary instincts. Both these main characters are faced with social and military obstacles that they have to destroy in order to get what they both wanted, independence.

Critical Approaches Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Critical Approaches - Essay Example Realism assumes the state to be the paramount player in the economy, and the state is assumed to be unchanging monolithic entity. The problem with this assumption is the non-consideration of agency and internal factors that have an impact on state behaviours. Since most of the realism theory deals with power and the state, a misguided assumption of the state and power relation is the worst failing of the theory. I believe the weakest approach is the feminist approach because it emphasizes on the relation between power and gender instated of emphasizing on the unequal dissemination of resources and power. The best insight of the feminist approach is that women have been oppressed systematically with men historically being dominant. Despite this being the main insight of the theory it lacks a direct relation between the iniquity of power and resource distribution by emphasizing on power and gender relations. The need to cater for unequal power and resource distribution under feminism was not dealt with until recently with the advent of contemporary

Akutagawa, Kesa and Morito Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Akutagawa, Kesa and Morito - Essay Example It seems from his arguments that marriage and morality are alternative beats of the same heart. Apparently marriage is being hailed as a respectable social relationship, but the ground realities are different. The demanding society acts as the vigilant guard over the male and female searching for a perfect bond. If during the personal interaction any one of them does not come up to the expectations of the other and opposite sex will dismiss the concerned individual as an unbefitting partner. Oscar Wilde scrutinizes the sway of Victorian society’s impracticable prospects on the concerned human being in The Importance of Being Earnest presenting how elimination process in marriage proposals whether from a potential partner or society as a whole, can end up with deception and practice of duplicity in life in order to meet the demanding conventions. The Nature of Marriage Oscar Wilde, true to his genius and writing style creates deliberate confusion about the institution of marria ge. The opening dialogue between Algernon and his butler Lane is a discussion between the two regarding the nature of marriage and they have arguments and counterarguments whether at the proposal stage of the marriage it should be considered as â€Å"business† of â€Å"pleasure.† Wilde is using the literary weapon of satire from the beginning itself, as the discussion is not between two intellectuals or philosophers but amongst two ordinary individuals. Lady Brackwell considers the issue from the psychological point of view of the girl to be married. For her, it is the emotional issue. â€Å"Pardon me, you are not engaged to anyone. When you do become engaged to someone, I, or your father, should his health permit him, will inform you of the fact. An engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise, pleasant or unpleasant, as the case may be. It is hardly a matter that she could be allowed to arrange for herself . . .† (Act I) Lady Bracknell does emphasize t he element of surprise but the real issue in her statement is something else. It indicates that the girl to be married has no choice, as per the social traditions in the Victorian Age and as such the event of engagement may be pleasant or unpleasant for the girl, as she is not a party in the selection of her life-partner. The finalization of the marriage proposal is an elaborate process. All secular issues related to the suitability of the groom are taken into account as per the traditionalist approach and fascinations of the Victorian decorum most importantly like social standing, earnings and character. The options are kept handy and Lady Bracknell has the list of prospective bachelors and a detailed questionnaire to which she questions Jack and they pertain to the expectations about the nature -and purpose of marriage. It is not an easy-going interaction for the prospective bachelor offering himself for marriage, and he has to go through an elaborate and intricate procedure of

The Experience of Music Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 131

The Experience of Music Business - Essay Example The distribution of roles was necessary in helping us achieve the goals. According to Schneeman (2013) it is important for duties and roles of each partner to be well defined while starting a business partnership. They should be included in the partnership agreement. If roles and duties are not well stipulated, partnership conflicts can easily arise Gitman and McDaniel (2008) As mentioned earlier, when we started the business, we all had different ideas before settling for the music business. The most outstanding challenge was to decide and agree on the kind of business we were going to focus on. One of the team members who are the music producer was able to convince us into music business by giving us an analysis of the market. Other team members were doing the same for their business ideas, at the end we all agreed to do the music business as each member of the team can contribute with past experience and it was the best business to apply the theory of bootstrapping. We had to go through three meetings to finally agree on the business, plan it and forecast the costs. According to Clifford and Warner (2012) each partner has different priorities and personalities. It will take compromise from each other for this to work.The other challenge faced was effective communication within the team members. According to Norman, (2003), communication is very vital in any business and business partners as well. At the first meeting some were feeling nervous to share ideas as some of the team members were new. Furthermore, due to the difference in characteristics and background that each member has, in the beginning, I was shy and did not express my ideas and concerns.

What if it Were You Essay Example for Free

What if it Were You Essay Probably the most debated topic today is abortion. It is uncommon for the topic to be brought up when new friends are first meeting because almost everyone has a stand on the issue, and there are only two possible stands (which happen to be largely the opposite). According to the Websters dictionary, the definition of abortion is: expulsion of a fetus from the womb before it is viable. You might say that this definition is a little unclear because we must ask, what does Webster mean by viable? In the same edition, the definition of viable is: able to take root and grow. Now I dont know about you, but I think that if you nourish and feed a fetus from the first day of conception properly, it will be able to take root and grow. If you dont believe me, every single human life today (including yours and mine) are walking proof of this. So then, if the definition of abortion is a fetus expelled before it can take root and grow, the definition contradicts itself, and abortion is therefore the expulsion of a human. Now where Im from, expulsion of a human is a crime in which in most cases is punishable by death if not life imprisonment. I cant even begin to understand how the issue of abortion is even a question, or  much less exists! What a sick and twisted world we live in. Its a good thing for all those hardcore pro-choicers out there that their mothers happened to be pro-life. Ironic, huh? I am going to give a few arguments against abortion, and I will then look at the opposing views and make a rebuttal. The first and foremost argument is that abortion is just wrong it is the killing of the innocent(Pearce 7). Considering that the majority of America and this world believe in (a similar) God, God definitely is pro-life (or at least his mother was). Anyone that wants to follow God simply cannot be for abortion under any circumstances. God is the creator of life and intended for a child to be born the natural way not sucked up by a vacuum and discarded into a trashcan. Now if youre not one of those people that believe in God, you might still be against murder. Im telling you that abortion is no different than murder. The major question that comes into  mind for many Christians is: When does a fetus/baby have a soul? or rather, When is the fetus a human? A medical group of biochemists and geneticists were asked the same question, and found 19 to 1 that: The majority of our group could find no point in time between the union of sperm and egg, or at least the blastocyst stage, and the birth of the infant at which  point we could say that this was not a human life. A good comparison to remember is that a fetus is to a baby as a ten year old child is to an adult: each is just an older version of the former (and all are human). There are many women that have now gone insane because of abortions. They realize what they have done and feel as if they have killed the very child they should have loved(Green 1). The number one comeback to any pro-life arguments is that abortion is the womans right to choose. My rebuttal is simply, What if the aborted fetus was a female (or hence a woman), Where the heck was her so-called right to choose? The same excuse can be made for a mother of ten children all under the age of 11, that wants to kill herself. She might say, Its my body, my life, why the heck cant I commit suicide? I have the right to choose death. I would say that no, she really doesnt have that right because she will be affecting at the lives of at least ten other people. Im gonna guess that those ten kids cant probably survive too well without her. So does she have the right to choose death of her own body, much less that of somebody elses (the unwanted fetus)? Heck NO! My question is why doesnt a woman have the right to choose  right after the baby has been born? Or does she. Partial-birth abortion is a practice supported by many pro-choicers in which the baby is killed after it has partially been born. If a woman held a gun to her child after it was halfway out and shot it, would it be murder? What about  ¾ of the way out? What if the baby is only connected by the toe, or to the umbilical cord? Its considered murder if the mother shoots her baby once it is completely out of the womb. a In regards to my statement that women who have had abortions often go insane, many people believe that it is the fault of us pro-lifers that we are too harsh, and therefore make them feel remorseful. The fact is, the truth hurts. If someone killed someone, and then was told how bad it was, they would feel sorry too. Everyone today wants to never be told what is right and wrong, so that they cant be held culpable for their actions. That is just like Platos allegory of the cave, in which everyone is tied up and watches shadows on the wall, not realizing that there is another world out there. One man (Socrates) unties himself and escapes. When he comes back to tell everyone about this whole new world, they beat him up and choose to deny it. And as in Platos day, there are many of us who  wish not to see the truth and take the easy way out. We must all do what Socrates did: escape from the world and find and preach the truth. Another argument made for abortion is: What if a teenage girl is raped? My answer is Give it up for adoption! One might answer me back and say, There are already too many orphaned kids who arent that well taken care of. My answer is to ask those poor orphaned kids if they would rather be alive than dead by putting a gun up to their head, or better yet, threaten them with a vacuum to suck their brains out. I can almost guarantee you that they will choose life, and be happy that their mothers also did. One final argument for abortion is people want to know what if the child will be disabled? First of all, go see the movie that is based on a true story, RADIO. Disabled people can teach so many people how to love. They have taught me what unconditional love is. But aside from all this, just like with the orphaned kids, just put a gun up to them, and they will probably give you some indication to stop. After reading a first draft of  this essay, one of my peers asked me, Should a person who has no sign of consciousness (retarded) and does nothing good to this world be entitled to live? My answer is Why would they  not be entitled to live? Even if we knew that someone was going to do harm to this world, it would be murder to kill him. If someone had killed Hitler before he had done so much evil, it wouldve still been murder. There once was a pregnant woman who had syphilis and was an alcoholic, and the father was also an alcoholic. Should she have aborted her baby, who had such a high risk of turning out deformed? If she had aborted that baby, she wouldve killed Beethoven. (True story!) Finally, I would like to conclude with the steps in an abortion process. There are types of induced abortions: Dilatation and curettage; Suction; Hysterotomy; and saline poisoning. Dilatation and curettage, or D and C is a process by which the doctor sticks an instrument (curette) up into the uterus, and cuts the baby to pieces, and then scrapes all the pieces out (Wilkes 18). Blood is not uncommon. Suction is a method by which the baby is sucked through a vacuum and then spit into a tube into many pieces. Hysterotomy is similar to a Caesarian section in which the doctor cuts open the mothers stomach, and then throws the baby away. (See pictures attached.) The saline poisoning method is done by injecting a needle of poison into the amniotic sack of the baby, and watching it go into  convulsions for about an hour, and then dies. The mother goes through labor, and delivers a dead baby. By the way, science now tells us that a baby has a fully developed nervous system at three months, and can thus feel everything. In the movie The Silent Scream, the doctors poke the baby, and you can see it jump and writhe in pain. People today just dont have hearts anymore. So I hope I have convinced you that abortion is wrong and evil, and must be banned. Some say that there is another civil war to be fought over  abortion. This might seem a bit rash, but the truth is, abortion is that serious.

Functionalist Perspective on Social Problems

Functionalist Perspective on Social Problems When in a society people agree that there exists a condition that threatens the quality of their lives and their most cherished values, and they also agree that something should be done to remedy it, sociologists say that society has defined that state of affairs as a social problem. Sociologists ask questions about how the problem effects the collectivity rather than the individual aspects of a problem. The main sociological approaches to the study of social problems are the functionalist and conflict perspectives. Functionalism aims at analysing the social and cultural phenomenon in terms of the functions they perform. From this perspective, the main reason for the existence of social problems is that societies are always changing and the failure to adapt successfully to change leads to social problems. Functionalist analysis was prominent in the work of Auguste Comte and Herbert Spencer, two of the founding fathers of this discipline and was further developed and refined by Emile Durkheim and more recently by Talcott Parsons. Durkheim is the most important sociological forerunner of modern day functionalism. His description of organic solidarity focussed on the interdependence of roles and lack of self-sufficiency that held people together. According to the functionalist perspective, each part of society is interconnected and contributes to society performing as a whole. If all goes well, the diverse parts of society produce order, equilibrium and performance. If all does not go well, then the different parts of society must adapt themselves to re-establish a new balance, equilibrium and performance. For example, during a financial recession and consequent high rates of unemployment and inflation, state spending on social programs is reduced or eliminated, Schools offer fewer educational programmes and families spend less, so a new social order, steadfastness and productivity occurs. The conflict perspective, which originated primarily out of Karl Marxs writings on class conflicts, presents a picture of society in a different light from the functionalist perspective. While the functionalist perspective focuses on the positive aspects of society that contribute to its stability, the conflict perspective focuses on the antagonistic, disharmonized and ever-changing nature of society. Conflict theorists challenge the existing state of affairs, strenghten social change (even when this means social revolution) and believe affluent and authoritarian people force social order on the destitute and the weak. Capitalism, the economic system which dominates the world today, is based on private ownership of the means of production (manufacturing industry, the raw materials and resources needed for industry and even the seeds necessary for food production) and exploitation of the labour of the working-class. The working-class, with no land or substantial inherited wealth, have no means of supporting themselves and are forced to sell their labour to survive. Capitalists buy this labour power, then get their money back and make profits by selling necessities and other products to the working-class and other classes in society. Critics of the conflict perspective point to its exceedingly negative outlook of society. The theory ultimately accredits charitable efforts, benevolence, democracy, civil rights, and other positive aspects of society to capitalistic motives meant to control the masses, and not to fundamental interests in sustaining society and social order. For generations before the establishment of a welfare state, most poor people who did not earn a living somehow managed to cope. Relying on family and, if necessary, on local charities, they pooled together the resources necessary to maintain a dwelling and prevent starvation. The term Poverty has many definitions and it is often defined as a state of deprivation relative to those standards of living enjoyed by others within the same society e.g. income or consumption poverty, social preclusion, lack of basic needs and relative hardship. The extensive sociological literature on poverty overlaps with that on race, ethnicity, subcultures, the underclass and stratification. The study of poverty is central to any examinations of social inequality, including an analysis of who is destitute and the reasons for their poverty. Although the poor have often been blamed for their poverty, which is seen as the consequence of some form of personal inadequacy such as idleness, most studies attribute the existence of poverty in terms of the social and economic structures of industrialised societies. The Functionalist belief on poverty is based on the assumption that poverty serves a constructive use for society since functionalism is interested in large scale fundamental justifications of social life. Therefore, poverty is studied on a macro level on the basis of the benefits it provides to society as a whole, rather than for the persons who are in poverty. The most influential writer on this aspect is Herbert J. Gans (1971) who suggests that poverty benefits the rich and powerful, who have a statutory interest in preserving poverty. According to Gans, poverty ensures there is always someone in society who needs to perform physically dangerous, temporary, undignified and underpaid work for low wages, which is ultimately better than destitution. Furthermore, without the underpaid in society, many enterprises would be unable to operate as they rely upon under paid workers to ensure their dividend and success. The very existence of poverty provides the rest of society with benchmark against which society can measure itself. In Britain, Peter Townsend played a leading role between 1950, and 1970s in making the public aware of the continuing existence of poverty. According to Townsend individuals, families and groups can be said to be in poverty when they lack the means to obtain the types of food, participate in the activities and have basic living conditions and facilities which are recognized, or at least widely sanctioned or approved, in the societies to which they belong. Their resources are so seriously below those required by the average person or family that they are, in effect, excluded from everyday living ways, customs and activities. In Poverty in the United Kingdom Townsend claims that the existence of class division is the major factor causing poverty; but he also acknowledges that poverty is related to lifestyles. From a conflict perspective, poverty is imposed, reflecting unequal power among social groups, and it will continue to be imposed until those harmed by it manage to force a change. Conflict theory argues that the explanations offered by functionalism theory is part of what sustains poverty, as they conceal its true origins and encourage the poor to accept social arrangements rather than organize to combat them. Marxism attributes poverty to the existence of class divisions in society. Poverty helps to maintain the domination of the bourgeoisie. In the 19th century the recognized explanation of poverty came from Malthuss Essay on Population (1798). Malthus affirmed that population grows faster than production. Increasing poverty is therefore unavoidable; any increase in the standard of living of the poorest classes simply leads to an increase in births or decrease in death rates and the population again presses on food supply. Marx held the Malthusian theory in great disdain. Under capitalism, production grows very rapidly because of continual innovation and the surplus population a group of unemployed living in poverty is not the result of natural population increase, but of the dislocation of workers by labour-saving machinery. The surplus population could all work if the length of the working day were reduced. But employers dont want this, for various reasons. Marxists believe that the capitalist society is constucted by the economy, and this structure needs to be completely reconfigured to be able to eliminate poverty. This would include a revolutionary eradication of capitalism because eventually the situation will progress to a small minority of the bourgeoisie (ruling class) and a pool of cheap labour. Marxists illustrated this by suggesting that institutions in the superstructure, such as the media, abuse of the proletariat, keeping them poor. A fragileness to the Marxists point of view is that it fails to explain why some groups are more inclined to poverty than others, e.g. women and the disabled. According to Marxists, the welfare system is an instrument of the state, which helps to maintain absolute lack of balance of prosperity that see some people living in privation with little possibility of ever really escaping from it. Absolute poverty, also known as subsistence poverty, is the idea that it is possible to create an absolute minimum standard of living required for physical health, this is often called the poverty line. This concept is used in Drewnowski and Scotts level of living index where nutrition is defined in terms of calories and protein, shelter in terms of quality of dwelling and degrees of overcrowding, and health in terms of infant mortality and the quality of available medical facilities. Some sociologists attempt to include measures of education, security, leisure and recreation as basic cultural needs to be added to the notion of subsistence. The theory of relative poverty has mainly replaced that of absolute poverty in sociological research. Relative poverty is measured in terms of judgements by members of a particular society of what is considered as a reasonable and acceptable standard of living. This definition of poverty suggests that the poor in any given society are, in part, defined by their opposite, the rich. A society has a distinctive set of cultural values, and any definition of poverty must include the choices and interests that individuals have in their society. Researchers have linked poverty to several key issues of child welfare. Children from families in poverty experience more emotional and behaviour problems than children from middle and upper class families. Although all children go to school, the background of some puts them academically behind their peers from the beginning. Impoverished students are far more likely to enter school a disadvantaged because they have not had experiences that promote literacy and reading readiness. More than one billion people in the world live on less than one dollar a day. In total, 2.7 billion struggle to survive on less than two dollars per day. Poverty in the developing world, however, goes far beyond income poverty. This entails having to walk more than one mile everyday to collect water and firewood; it means suffering diseases that were annihilated from rich countries decades ago. Every year eleven million children (mostly under the age of five) die from malnutrition and more than six million from completely preventable causes like malaria, diarrhoea and pneumonia. A total of 114 million children do not get access to a basic education and 584 million women are illiterate. Social protection systems in Europe are among the most highly developed in the world but still, 16% of Europes population amounting to 79 million people live below the poverty line (set at 60% of their countrys median income) with one European in ten living in a household where nobody has an employment. Children, are more exposed to poverty with 19% amounting to 19 million children living under the threat of poverty. For this reason the European Union has proclaimed 2010 as the European Year For Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion with four main objectives: The fundamental right of persons experiencing poverty and social exclusion to live in dignity and to take an active part in society; Foster commitment by all public and private actors to combat poverty and social exclusion; Encourage cohesion; Promote commitment and practical action of the EU and its Member States to combat poverty and social exclusion, and involve all levels of authority in the pursuit of that aim. Malta does not live in a vacuum and new forms of poverty brought about by social progress as a result of new lifestyles have been very actual. A large number of families are living through difficult times, with children being the innocent victims of their parents and guardians, the authorities or the community at large. Problems created by gambling, usury, alcohol, drug abuse and mental health. The report by the National Family Commission states that relative poverty exits not just financially but also in cases of stigmatised illness, domestic violence and cases where a husband chooses not to work so that he can default on paying maintenance to wife and dependants. More and more international efforts have been organized in recent decades to address the problems of the poorest among us. However, while the world has certainly seen an overall improvement in rates of poverty and poverty-related issues, success has been uneven and hampered by serious setbacks. One devastating disease, such as AIDS, can obliterate the economy of a low-income country and one violent conflict can crush any human development advances that might have been achieved. Can we envisage a society without absolute poverty and relative poverty? In a society without absolute poverty everyone that could work would be employed, there would be little crime, just a great place to live. In a society without relative poverty people would all have the same wealth and there would be no competition to be better then anyone else. This type of society is only possible in the imagination. Poverty survives because it is useful to our society. Societys dirty work could still be carried out without poverty by paying the dirty workers decent wages. If the poor were more affluent they would make less willing clients for upper-class philanthropy. Poverty will only be eliminated when the poor can obtain enough power to make a change in todays society.