Navajo nation public health nurses inspire thoughts on health care reform

The wisdom and experience of pubic health nurses serving on a Navajo Reservation, who work far from the typical hospital setting, may well hold some of the keys to how we can successfully plan for and navigate the future of our shifting health care system. As more of the nursing workforce moves outside the walls of the hospital, competencies in autonomy, clinical judgment, decision making, and communication will increase in importance. long with safety and quality implications, this may also influence changes in nursing education, job requirements, hiring, and measuring performance. In addition, there may be implications around how new nurses are oriented and how they get the experience needed to function in more independent roles. Within their routine days, the conditions they work in, the situations they face, and the many ways public health nurses find to meet the needs of the people they serve, is a wealth of knowledge that may well translate into solutions for some of the challenges our nation's health care system is facing.     

ASQ认证委员会在工作中应用质量工具

在最近战略策划过程中，ASQ认证委员会利用质量工具识别顾客的需求。在质量世界里，人们一直强调顾客满意度在战略策划中的重要性，而且现在还在强调。朱兰和布兰顿·古德弗雷把以顾客为关注焦点称为全面质量管理三个理念之一，并且补充到，“质量意识成功的公司采用了许多战略……在这些战略中通常都包括以顾客为关注焦点。”     

The return of the smiley face

The iconic, ubiquitous smiley face of the 1960s and 70s represented happiness that could be taken in and felt deeply, even if only for a moment. Today we are in a much different world, one in which the understanding of the value of happiness can seem distant. Talking about "feelings" does not go over well in the board room, in setting workforce management strategies, or in budget discussions. That could all be changing and we may finally be getting the attention of leadership on this long neglected and important topic. The cost and quality implications of an unhappy workforce seem immense. We can keep trying to squeeze more out of our health care workforce or we can invest in their wellbeing and get more out of them.     

Self-Determination Theory as a Framework for Understanding Women's Psychological Well-Being Outcomes from Leisure-Time Physical Activity

Self-determination theory (SDT) is used as a framework to understand how women's psychological well-being is influenced by participation in leisure-time physical activity and the social context in which activity occurs. Data were collected during in-depth semi-structured interviews with 20 participants and analyzed using constant comparison. Findings indicate women's well-being can be enhanced through casual participation in leisure-time physical activity if activity contexts support interaction between the elements of self-determination: competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Participant interactions during activities also play an important role in facilitating well-being outcomes. The findings qualitatively add to understanding and development of SDT as a legitimate psychological construct by explaining the key components of the theory through the participants own words and reflections.     

Exploring consumer orientation toward returns: unethical dimensions

As customer return rates increase, retailer bottom lines suffer from customers’ misuse of the policies and to the ethics of such practice. The purpose of this study is to explore customers’ orientation toward return behaviors, and to develop a return orientation assessing these dimensions. This research identified three dimensions relevant to consumer return behavior: the planned/unethical returner; the eager returner; and the reluctant/educated returner. A retest with another sample confirmed these three dimensions. Each dimension was analyzed for its relationship with consumer ethical beliefs as measured by the Muncy–Vitell Consumer Ethics Scale, ethical philosophies and shopping behaviors. These relationships supported the ethical and unethical aspects of returner orientation. Results of this research imply that the core aspect of returner orientation is relevant to ethical behavior and misuse of retail return policies. The three return orientations identified partially support the Rosenbaum & Bitner‐Olson research.     

Community-Based Ecotourism Development on the Periphery of Belize

In addition to ecological interests, the sustainability debate among scholars is concerned with grassroots tourism development in terms of participatory planning and the spreading of economic benefits between more sectors of society. This paper examines these issues in the context of community-based ecotourism development on the southern periphery of Belize. The Toledo Ecotourism Association and its activities are described within the context of peripheral development and sustainability. It is argued that sustainable tourism initiatives in developing countries can be conceptualised and operationalised at a very smallscale, improve the lives of residents, provide enjoyment for tourists, and protect the natural and cultural environments. The paper also argues that peripheral locations and their characteristics can be instrumental in promoting local control of small-scale tourism.     

Enhancing economic literacy of classroom teachers

For the past two summers, the Division of Education and the Division of Business and Economics at Indiana University at Kokomo have collaborated to produce an intense teamtaught summer economics course for pre-service education majors and in-service classroom teachers. The dual emphasis on content and application allows economics to integrate every aspect of the classroom and allows Praxis achievement. This paper explores the essential nature of Praxis in making the content or practice link—so critical for successful implementation of economics in K-12 classrooms. To determine their attitudes toward and knowledge of economics education, a pretest and post-test format was adopted. In addition, the institutional enhancers and inhibitors that dramatically affected the development and implementation of the new course of study are presented. This paper was presented at the Forty-Fourth International Atlantic Economic Society Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, October 9–12, 1997. Discussants' comments are incorporated.