Week 6: Stigma and Discrimination
Stigma and discrimination limit individuals from living a happy and satisfying life. There are several ways of fighting and stopping stigma
Talking openly about mental health and its associated issues on every platform one gets such as Facebook, Instagram, one on one and many others. This act might end up helping at least one individual. Education is another effective strategy that can be put in place. Educating people and sharing personal stories and struggles associated with it helps a lot. Any opening should serve as a learning opportunity to stop the negative effects of stigma and discrimination, which limits mentally ill individuals from living a happy and satisfying life. Encouraging equality is another strategy because when individuals know the facts about mental illness, they think twice before uttering insensitive comments. Reminding people that they should not make fun of such individuals goes a long way in showing such people compassion. Uttering positive words to such individuals shows affection, which makes their day and gives them the strength to live happy and satisfying lives.
Week 6: Harm Reduction Strategies
Yes, the harm reduction approach is an effective strategy for Toronto. However, one of its most significant issues is that housing and homeless services do not meet the needs of the people use substances in Toronto. Some housing programs, shelters, and drop-in programs have well-integrated harm reduction strategies while others lack the harm reduction lens at all. The harm reduction approach seems like an ineffective approach because it requires an underlying and unifying framework across the housing system and homelessness. This creates gaps and barriers for substance abuse individuals, limiting them from accessing and maintaining safety in Toronto. For the Harm Reduction Strategy to be effective, the shelter system should support shelters in Toronto to meet expectations in connection with the Harm Reduction approach. Second, agencies that support the homeless and vulnerable should be integrated into the development of an action plan that incorporates the Harm Reduction approaches.
Reference
https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/9791-SSHA-Harm-Reduction-Framework.pdf
Week 6: Not in My Backyard
Toronto indeed needs a lot of shelters. Some of the most significant reasons for the high number of homeless people are unemployment, expensive real estate market, and low vacancy rates. Such factors make it difficult for Torontonians to find affordable housing. A new wave and a high number of immigrants is also a reason why housing is an issue in Toronto. It is evident that Toronto requires a lot of shelters, and as suggested by Mayor John Tory, the shelters should be built on city land. Mayor John Tory had identified ten city sites that can be redeveloped into housing units. However, pressure should be mounted on city officials to speed up the approval process for building new shelters for the homeless. The provincial and federal governments as well offer land that it is holding in the city as Not In My Backyard takes effect in the local area.
Reference
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-shelter-plan-falls-short-homeless-advocates-1.4901743
An intensive interview (or “in-depth interview”) is a qualitative research technique that is typically done face-to-face and uses flexible, open-ended questions with the intent of exploring the respondent’s perspectives on a particular idea or situation.
In-depth interviews are preferred if focus groups are not feasible, and mainly if the topic under investigation is sensitive, and the researcher believes individuals contribute otherwise. Interviews are used when individuals rather than collective perspectives are needed. This method can also be used to refine questions for follow up (for example, to develop future surveys). In interviews, the research findings are not typically generalizable (although replicability is usually not the point of this type of research), and it’s, of course, very time consuming to collect the data.
A focus group discussion involves typically a group of individuals who maybe 6 to 12 people. They are brought together from similar backgrounds or experiences in a room with the intent of engaging in a guided discussion on a topic. There are different types of focus groups, such as single focus group, mini focus group, duel moderator focus group, among others.
For conducting a successful focus group, you need to do a few things 1. Thank people for coming 2. review the purpose of the group, and the goal of meeting 3.set a tone 4.Ask an opening question. 5.make sure all the opinions on that question get a chance to be heard.
The topic under study is, How do nursing students describe the quality of their practice upon deployment?. I prefer focus groups as it will encourage the nursing students participants to discuss their feelings, anxieties, frustrations, and experiences as well as the depth of their convictions on issues relevant to the topic without being biased or pressured by the situation. This will enable me to get enough and detailed information in a shorter period.