Imaginative Approach Research Articles

Health Care Organizations in Third and Fourth World Nations

EALTH CARE ORGANIZATIONS should try to meet priority health needs, in third and fourth world nations as well as in industrialized nations, as effectively as possible and by fully utilizing all resources that are available. This assertion seems quite obviously to be valid, and most authorities would accept it as an ideal to be aimed for. But they would tend to lose themselves in endless arguments about which health needs should be given highest priority, and how best to mobilize existing resources and institutions in order to provide the kind of health care which they believe to be necessary. It is quite evident, in point of fact, that such an ideal has rarely if ever been realized, in any nation, anywhere, anytime. Not only does health care fall short everywhere of this ideal, it falls tragically short of even the barest minimum of attainment among most of the peoples in most nations of the developing world. Why is this so, and must it continue to be? The answer to these questions usually goes something like this: health problems in the poor nations are so great and resources to meet these problems along conventional Western lines are so meagre, while the populations in these nations rapidly continue to grow even greater, that little more can be expected beyond what is already being done or not being done -until economic development can catch up and permit the propagation of our way of life, along with our systems of health care-or lack of systems into the rest of the world. Such an answer, I believe, is not only cruel and unacceptable, it stands in the way of real progress toward practical solutions which would be possible within present constraints, if it were not assumed that we already know what constitutes health care and if we would not be afraid to vigorously explore fresh and imaginative approaches to the problem. Nearly three-fourths of the world's population live in third and fourth world nations. Of these, about three-fourths still live in rural regions with rudimentary sanitation, precarious food supply, and little or no access to the simplest health care which we have come to take for granted. Large numbers of the remaining one-fourth of the people of the poor nations, dispossessed from the land and hoping to improve their lot, have migrated to the larger cities, with more migrating every day, where most of them live huddled in slums and shantytowns, with sanitation often worse and food more expensive than in the villages they left, and with modern medical care usually in close proximity

Good Times

The material which follows does not conform to the usual criteria associated with articles or notes. It does not fit into a category of “Autogerontology.” And there is certainly no intent to begin a series of presentations of “Resident Newspapers” or Senior Citizen Newsletters prepared by members. It is published here with minimal comment about its significance, much as we might publish a photograph or painting that yielded up insights or perhaps the avenue to insights about some elderly whom we understood less well than we should have. It also bears witness to imaginative approaches conceived by imaginative clinicians. (E.S.C., Editor)

Women and Indians: The Last of the Mohicans and the Captivity Tradition

ity, this large genre remains somewhat isolated within American literary history-more interesting to bibliographers and ethnohistorians than to critics.' Some recent studies of captivity narratives have ably elaborated basic ideas first presented by Roy Harvey Pearce a generation ago; new and highly imaginative approaches to the captivities have also been attempted, but the critics' eagerness to fit one or more narratives into universal mythic structures or into psychosexual theories of American culture has often distracted them from the fundamental question about the captivities-the specific influence of this vast and enormously popular genre upon the development of literature in the United States.2 Yet it is only logical that such influence must have existed. Bibliographers have catalogued more than a thousand separate captivity titles, published fairly steadily from the sixteenth century to the first decades of the twentieth; many of the best-known narratives were reprinted in dozens of editions.3 For roughly a hundred years, from 1750 to 1850, the Indian captivity was one of the chief staples of popular literary culture; as Phillips D.

Teaching Foreign Etiquette in the Foreign Language Class: Student Involvement Techniques*

ABSTRACT Language teachers should concern themselves with teaching etiquette because it is both academically defensible as a part of communication and because students are interested in the topic. Teaching etiquette can involve content, process, and affect learning. Techniques discussed include ‘cultural asides,’ ‘culture capsules,’ and ‘cultural slots' to treat content learning. Other devices, which are treated in greater detail and which provide greater student involvement and process learning, are instructional games (e.g., “Sovietiquette” and “Tactword”), inquiry techniques (e.g., identifying objects, illustrations of faux pas), and acting techniques (e.g., audio‐motor units, role‐playing). Finding deeper iiuercultural similarities beneath surface differences requires a more imaginative approach than merely telling students about the differences. Content sources for French, German, Hispanic, and Russian cultures are also provided.

SPAR VIVO

With over 4,000 retailers and a probable current turnover of £230m., Spar Vivo's performance over the past few years has been impressive. Its success is due, primarily, to three factors: an imaginative and colourful approach to promotions; a persistent and developing policy of own‐brand merchandising; and a realisation that what counts, in the last analysis, is the operational performance of its retailer members. RDM interviewed the two men at the top — Michael Reynolds and John Irish.

Nuclear Medicine in the Treatment of Cancer

The early promise that nuclear medicine offered to the cancer patient has been fully kept with respect to diagnosis. In the area of therapy, the results have been far less clear-cut. But a number of new and highly imaginative approaches—often involving interactions with other therapeutic modalities—may justify renewed although still cautious optimism about the future of cancer treatment.

Arts, Music, and History: The African Experience

O NE of the most effective approaches to the teaching of black history is the use of mixed media, especially when it is used creatively. Ancient black Africans left a great cultural heritage for the modern world. Not only has music been one of the paramount forces which created American music, but art, through the genius of Pablo Picasso, is one of the great influences on modern art. With an imaginative approach to teaching, students can develop these concepts themselves by a simple, but effective, use of mixed media. Mixed media sounds complicated but is not. In this case, an exciting class can be built around the use of a record player or tape recorder, and a slide or film strip projector. music used in the class described here was the of Africa, conducted by Saka Acquaye.' It is very effective because both the music selected and the types of instruments used are centuries old. But many other records of the music of black Africa are available and will suffice. art used in the same class consisted of slides made from three sound filmstrips produced by Warren Schloat Productions, African Art and Culture.2 It is not necessary, however, to make slides of the filmstrips; they can be used intact. Slides were used in this case because 80 pictures, projected at 15-20 second intervals, co-ordinated beautifully with the lively music of The Voices of Africa. procedure used was simple. Without comment, the students listened to 20 minutes of uninterrupted music while the slides were projected at 15-20 second intervals. When the lesson began, the instructor

Belgium:

There are not many shopping centres in Belgium but such as there are have an imaginative approach to the question of promotion. One of them puts on a major cultural exhibition regularly; another features youth orchestras. The Belgian dancer, Bejart, took a beginner's dancing class on a shopping centre mall. Perhaps more importantly, shopping centres in Belgium are moving ever closer towards ‘integral planning’ — integration with the community, a principle well established with shopping centres in Sweden. This article is taken from M. De Bodt's paper to the World Conference on Distribution.

Personnel computer systems: Solutions in search of a problem

Over the past two decades, more and more large U.S. companies have developed EDP-based information systems designed to support their personnel operations' manpower planning, control, and decision responsibilities. Despite the high hopes of their designers, truly successful systems are still something of a rarity. Drawing on case examples, the author traces the reasons for success and failure. His analysis suggests that failure to gain the involvement and clear commitment of top management, to develop user acceptance, or to overcome employee resistance can doom the most carefully designed personnel computer system. But the most fundamental key to success, he concludes, is identification of a critical personnel problem and a more imaginative approach to resolving it.

Neurology in Pediatrics, by Patrick F. Bray, M.D. Chicago: Year Book Medical Publishers (35 E. Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60601), 1969, 514 pp., $23.50

It was a pleasure to review this book, which in itself indicates that it is possible to give it an excellent review. It is refreshing to encounter a hard cover publication, in these days when most volumes have multiple authorship, where the responsibility for the entire task is accepted by a single individual. Moreover, Dr. Bray is an individual who is clearly up to the job from the point of view of his extensive personal clinical experience and imaginative approach to the presentation of the subject of neurology in pediatrics.

An Executive Looks at—Perspective—31,000 Feet up

In this fictionalized dialogue aboard a Friday night plane, two seasoned travelers discuss the business travel problem and its effect on their lives— and one of them offers some imaginative approaches that his company has taken to remedy it.

An Open-Ended Crisis-Oriented Group for the Poor who are Sick

THE RECENT interest in the mental health of the poor has been fraught with controversy about whether psychiatry can be helpful to the lower socioeconomic groups and, if so, how. Difficulties both on the part of lower-class patients and of the therapeutic personnel have been discussed.^1-4Yet, reports of new and imaginative approaches to the treatment of the poor have led to the dissolution of shibboleths such as the failure of the poor to persist in therapy or to utilize therapeutic relationships in other than supportive ways. Perhaps the most basic difficulty perceived in the treatment of the poor stems from particular characteristics of their behavior which are often exhibited in the clinical setting. These include a combination of the following: (1) more "oral demanding" attitudes than goal-oriented aspirations, coupled with (2) a low threshold of tolerance for frustration with relatively little ability to temporize gratification; (3) more action-oriented

Women in Economic Life: Rights and Opportunities

Women's role in economic life is changing under the impact of many forces. While discrimination and built-in prejudice against women in employment have been lessening in most parts of the world, in law and in practice, many eco nomic, social, and cultural factors and attitudes still place women at a disadvantage in the world of work and restrict their contribution unnecessarily and, in many cases, unfairly. A more constructive and imaginative approach is needed if women are to develop their potential, give of their best in economic life, and at the same time fulfill their other roles in society harmoniously. A first essential is more realistic and forward-looking vocational guidance and training for girls in the initial stage of preparation for work life. A second is a positive adaptation of society as a whole to the needs of women workers with family responsibilities of one kind or another. Women in developing countries will need new opportunities to participate in economic life as industrialization progresses. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) can help to promote equal rights and opportunities for women and to ensure them the social protection they need in relation to their special role of maternity and motherhood.

Economic Aspects of Environmental Pollution

should for reasons of the legitimate or real values involved-values as real and as valid as those of tomatoes and potatoes. Examples of the concerns include the increasing use of pesticides, abandoned automobiles, the proliferation of trash and refuse, utility poles, abandoned farmsteads, and various types of abandoned and new tourist developments. While we focus much rhetoric on a few more dramatic cases, there are many important, and in a number of ways similar, instances of deterioration of the rural and agricultural environment and of the total environment in which we live. The concern here is not with an enumeration of the various forms of pollution, nor with allegations of the extent of deterioration. We seem to be getting quite a bit of that. The relative deficiency seems to be the growth of an appreciation for the causes of better or worse environments as we have come to think of them. The reasons, particularly the economic reasons, for environmental degradation are not being taken into account and thereby hinder effective and efficient approaches to the alleged loss of values. Solution or at least betterment would seem far easier when the economic rationale is more fully understood.' The chief, and most useful, focus of social science questions is not that of having enough resources for our needs or asking when we shall run out of them. Instead, it is with investigating and improving the social and institutional arrangements by which we mobilize them. This concern centers on the assessment of relative values of resource uses and the analysis of ways in which we utilize the products of these resources. These are the questions involved in environmental quality concerns. As our dissatisfactions with the present resource arrangements increase, we are finding that our studies and plans have not always provided the needed guidance for dealing with environmental problems. In many instances they have been highly descriptive when the need is increasingly for more analytical efforts and more insightful and imaginative approaches. Parallel to this, the concern has largely been on specific problems in individual resource uses. Such a commodity approach has distracted attention from the common causes of many of our environmental concerns 'Orris C. Herfindahl and Allen V. Kneese, Quality of the Environment, Resources for the Future, Inc., Washington, D.C., 1965. JACK L. KNETSCH is an economist with Resources for the Future, Inc. 1256

THE SOCIAL SCIENTIST AND PEDIATRICS.

Because of the exploding cost of inpatient pediatrie care, the increasing importance of chronic disease and rehabilitation, and the growing emphasis on the prevention of disease and on well child counseling, the role of the outpatient department and of ambulatory pediatrie care has gained new significance. To undersore the need for new and imaginative approaches to patient care, teaching, and research related to outpatients, a Seminar on Ambulatory Pediatric Care was held in December 1964, to celebrate the opening of the renovated and refurbished Pediatrie Clinic at the Massachusetts General Hospital. The papers for this Seminar appeared in the August issue and are concluded in this issue.—Ed.

Relating Self-Conception to Curriculum Development

AN INCREASED interest and a renewed ac tivity concerning curriculum problems with spe cial emphasis on content have arisen during latter half of past decade. The voluminous annual reports of Carnegie Corporation, Ford Foundation, Kellogg Foundation, publications of national professional organizations, and proj ects sponsored by U. S. Office of Education, all attest to surging concern with this phase of education. Nevertheless, there seems to be a lack of new and imaginative approaches to cur riculum development. In a review of recent literature on curriculum development, Sand, Davis, Lammel, and Stone (4) lament ab sence of an adequate conceptual system to guide curriculum decision-making. They point out that the literature still relies heavily upon opin ions of competent educators and informed citi zens. These reviewers then conclude If curriculum in American schools and colleges is to move from a melange of disaggregate parts, and if decision-making is to become scientific, major efforts in decade ahead must focus on formulation of a theoretical structure which will guide design of meaningful research studies. Educators responsible for determining curricu lum content often have failed to consider child in all his aspects. Getting content covered has been of greater concern to teachers and ad ministrators than psychologically uncovering learner. The child is not only a physiological organism with biological mechanisms and require ments; he is a psychological entity following psychological laws in thinking, feeling, interpret ing and acting. Above all, and perhaps of vital importance in educating process, as Dreikurs (2) has pointed out, man is a social being who wants to belong and wants to act within social atmosphere of group life. His basic needs are ful filled at any age only if he has a chance to func tion adequately on all three levels?biological, psychological and social. Effective teaching must acknowledge matters other than mental process of learning and subject matter to be taught. The mental life must rather be looked upon as a part of total per sonality of individual. Every mental process depends on certain dynamic factors. Ansbacher (1) states that while all psychological move ments derive their direction from a predetermined goal, all preliminary separate goals, after a short existence in psychological development of child, come under dominance of fic tional final goal, of finale which is thought or felt as fixed. The mental life of learner is, therefore, only one element in total stream, movement toward a final goal. Care must be exercised, therefore, that curriculum materials developed for a child will relate to his goals. To do otherwise could result in a possible conflict between child's goals and subject matter being taught. For example, if socio-psychological needs of a ninth grader are not being fulfilled by community, he will show little enthusiasm for a field trip to observe city council in action. This can be a motivational problem for such well intended courses as Com munity Living. There are important relationships within individual's self-concept, social anchorages that he has established, and his readiness to learn at a particular time or stage of development. Each individual possesses self-attitudes that are signifi cant and salient components of his personality. The individual's ability to find his place in social group?that is, his establishment of social anchorages?rests in large part upon his concept of himself. Those self-concepts which indi vidual possesses at any moment influence ex tent to which he is capable of relating to curriculum at that time. It would seem that knowledge of how self-attitudes relate to indi viduals and groups would be particularly useful to curriclum makers and teachers. A rewarding area, therefore, still awaiting application of rigorous research design and prac tical experimentation would seem to be rela tionship between student's self-conceptions and curriculum offerings. The definition and isolation of social anchorages that contribute to self definitions have implications for curriculum build ing that have yet to be acknowledged. The follow ing is a report of an exploratory investigation of social anchorages that pertain to self-conception.

The changing scene in the detergent industry

The changing scene in the detergent industry

Power from nuclear reactions — Fission and fusion

A bold and imaginative approach to the use of nuclear energy — the wheel of space travel — is necessary if its potential is ever to be realized. If its true nature can be grasped, a vast realm of development will open for exploitation by many future generations of scientists and engineers.

Learning Theory and the Symbolic Processes.

Mowrer is a leading figure in the area of learning, noted for his imaginative approach to research, as well as a certain daring for venturing out of the relatively safe confines of the Skinner box and tackling some of the more vexing and elusive phenomena of personality and psychopathology. In this book he is again concerned with complex behavior and attempts to conceptualize cognitive and symbolic processes, within the framework of his most recent theory of learning (made explicit and fully elaborated in the companion volume, Learning Theory and Behavior ). Since the phenomena dealt with in this book are analyzed with an eye to the theory, it may be well to pause and examine Mowrer's position in some detail. The author, who for many years has advanced a two-factor theory of learning, now advocates a monistic approach: All learning is basically sign learning and involves the conditioning of emotional

What Are Some Imaginative Approaches To Good Scheduling Practices for School and Student?

What Are Some Imaginative Approaches To Good Scheduling Practices for School and Student?