Promoting Family Involvement and Providing Program Management Assignment

Promoting Family Involvement and Providing Program Management - Assignment Example They can talk about what works and what does not work. Teachers working collaboratively will make preschool an enjoyable teaching and learning experience for both the children and the teachers. They are more organized and better prepared for parents, visitors, and other people who may enter the school. They are also better prepared for any emergencies that may arise. Teachers work as social workers when they deal with various ethical dilemmas. Some of the ethical problems teachers need to work through are as follows: 1. Teachers must know and be able to keep confidentiality. The provider must keep what the parents tell them in confidence. They must be trusted to listen and to help, and not to tell others. This could be a problem when dealing with possible child abuse. 2. What are your beliefs for the child and the adult. This means do you always agree with how each of you will handle different problems that arise. 3. Showing respect is one way to get reasonable behavior from people, adults and children and this is a way to make them feel they are capable of reason, of thought. 4. Listening and paying attention and showing how they decide what to report if danger could be around the corner. 5. They have to know that there are limits to being helpful. 6. Teachers have to learn about different views, values and beliefs to make a child’s life richer. 7. They also must know how much information to give pertaining to the child and the family to be able to care for them. The three of them that could pertain to children are to make sure that they listen and pay attention to what goes on around them and you. They also need to learn about showing respect for the people around them. The three that pertains to teachers could be the ones dealing with the information and knowing how much to tell when problems arise with the child or the family. Teachers need to know how to gain the confidence of the parents and must have the ability to keep

The Main Functions Of The Maternity Nurse Health Essay

The Main Functions Of The Maternity Nurse Health Essay A Maternity Nurse is employed by Families who have new born babies and is qualified or experience to care for babies. They usually work short term contract and usually live in with the family and is generally on duty for 24 hours a day-6 days a week. The main functions of a maternity nurse are: To support parents in all aspects of the babys care, providing constant guidance on all aspects of care. Helping to establish good feeding routines which can be maintained by the parent/s after the maternity nurse leaves the family Show mum correct way to breast feed, show parents correct way to bath and change baby Helping to establish good sleeping routines which can be maintained by the parent/s after the maternity nurse leaves the family Help the parents to integrate a new baby into family life The maternity nurse may get up during the night to feed and change the baby or to get up to support mum or dad whilst they feed or change the baby. Some Maternity nurses are happy to do additional duties such as basic grocery shopping and general errands, to ensure the house hold runs smoothly and to give the parents some time alone with the baby. Explain the importance of maintaining confidentiality in a maternity nurse role, including when and why you can break that confidentiality. It is important for a maternity nurse to maintain confidentiality as either parent may confide in her and if she breaks that confidence she will lose the trust of that parent. Also, by breaking this confidence she may cause a rift between the parents especially if either parent has confided in her about the other. A maternity nurse must know the difference between what she must keep private and what can be discussed openly. This confidentiality can be broken if there is a risk of harm to the baby or if either parent is not coping well for example if a new mum had post natal depression, she may need professional help if the maternity nurse cannot cope with the situation on her own. Explain barriers to effective communication working with parents and how to overcome them. A maternity nurse may face the following barriers when dealing with parents: Language: parents may not speak the same language as the maternity nurse or they may come from a different part of the same country, e.g. a region with a different dialect. Cultural: different cultures communicate in different ways and their interpretation of the same message may often differ. Biases: this is largely due to our experiences and how we think of ourselves and other, for example a younger mum may find it difficult to communicate with an older maternity nurse as she may think she is mothering her or not taking her seriously. Assumption: it is important that a maternity nurse does not make the mistake of assuming that parents understand or agree with everything she tells them. Some of the ways these barriers could be overcome are: Language: speak clearly and slowly using simple and concise language. Cultural: consider where the parents are from and if there are any cultural differences which need to be taken into account when communicating. Biases: it is important to empathise and try to relate to the parents. It is only by overcoming our own biases can we then look to try and understand the bias of a parent. Assumption: for the relationship between maternity nurse and parents to work, no assumptions can be made by the maternity nurse. The maternity nurse needs to be astute and ask questions in a way that does not alienate the parents. 2.1 Explain the recognised causes of sudden infant death syndrome. The exact cause of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is not known however it is accepted that it may be a combination of a number of factors. Four main causes have been identified: Infant development: may be caused by a delay in nerve cell development in the brain which is essential for normal lung and heart function. Research has shown a delay in development in the function and formation of a number of serotonin binding nerve pathways in the brain. These pathways are vitally important to regulate blood pressure, breathing and heart rate. Rebreathing asphyxia: caused by a baby lying face down, it is difficult for the baby to breathe and can cause the baby to breathe in expelled carbon dioxide. Bedding, blankets, soft mattresses are some types of sleep surfaces that can impair breathing when the baby is face down. Hyperthermia (increased temperature): its not certain if increased air temperature can cause SIDS on its own or does it need to be in conjunction with a baby being unable to breathe. Usually a symptom of overdressing, when the baby has too much clothes on or too many blankets, covers which increase temperature and lead to an increased metabolic rate and eventually a loss of breathing control. Environmental factors: could include people smoking tobacco near your baby, being exposed to wood or coal burning fires, excessive smog. 2.2 Explain the ways in which sudden infant death syndrome can be prevented. Parents, family members or carers can take a number of steps to reduce SIDS: Sleep position: when putting a baby to sleep, place the baby on their back as the risk of SIDS is higher when a baby sleeps on their stomach or side. Sleep surface: it is best if a baby sleeps on a firm surface to prevent suffocation or smothering. Smoke: ensure the baby does not inhale smoke of any kind especially tobacco. Temperature: avoid overdressing the baby or using too many blankets/covers. Regulate room temperature where possible. Let baby sleep in comfortable, light clothing. Sleeping arrangements: dont let the baby sleep in the same bed as parents or another person including a child. 3.1 Explain the recognised causes of post natal depression. Some women experience depression after childbirth this is called postnatal depression, which usually starts in the first four to six weeks after they give birth, although in some cases it developed after several months. Its still not clear what causes post natal depression but some recognised causes may include: the stress of looking after a newborn baby both physically and emotionally shortly after pregnancy hormonal changes occur; some women may be more sensitive to hormones depression during pregnancy a difficult birth relationship worries financial problems lack of support from family or friends after birth there are physical health problems that occur , such as urinary incontinence (loss of bladder control), or persistent pain from an episiotomy scar or a forceps delivery a history of depression or other mood disorders such as bipolar disorder have a previous history of postnatal depression during pregnancy experience anxiety or depression It could take months before people cope with the pressure of being new parents. It is important for the maternity nurse to support the new parents even if the mum shows no signs of post natal depression, simply having a baby can be stressful and life changing and that itself can trigger depression. 3.2 Describe the ways the maternity nurse can support a mother through Post Natal Depression. The Maternity nurse can be very supportive and make the mum feel like she is doing a great job with her baby. She should make sure mum is getting enough sleep and is well rested. The maternity nurse should help as much around the house, including doing errands around the house to ease the stress. She should also manage visitors, too many visitors equals too many conflicting advice. If mum is suffering from post natal depression, getting different advice can be confusing and will not help mum get better. 3.3 Explain where the maternity nurse should seek help should they become concerned about a mothers condition. It is common for mums for mums to become irritability or experience mood changes, and episodes of tearfulness after birth, this is known as baby blues. Baby blues is usually over within a few weeks. But if the symptoms are persistent, it could well be the result of postnatal depression. It is important for the maternity nurse to recognise the signs of post natal depression If the maternity nurse is concerned about mums behaviour she should speak to dad or a close friend or family member to find out what mums character was like before baby was born. She would need to find out if the birth was not what mum expected as that can also trigger post natal depression. If mum has a flat expression, doesnt want to get dressed or go out and meet people, these are all signs of post natal depression. The maternity nurse should monitor the situation, if it doesnt get better after a couple of days then she should let dad know and he should seek professional help. It is important for partners, family and friends to recognise signs of postnatal depression as early as possible and seek professional advice. There are many symptoms of postnatal depression, feeling unable to cope, difficulty sleeping and low mood but many women are not aware they have the condition. 5.1 Explain what reflux is. What are the main reasons babies experience this condition. How can you support the baby through these times? Gastro-oesophageal reflux (GOR) commonly known as reflux, happens when the milk baby has drank comes back up into his oesophagus which is the food pipe or even into his mouth. It is a temporary which usually gets better on its own. It is not unusual for a baby to get reflux and it doesnt necessary a sign that baby is ill. During their first three months almost half of babies have reflux once or more a day (PRODIGY 2009). A small percentage of babies have trouble severe or persistent reflux which affects their well-being. This is called gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD). The babys food pipe connects his mouth with his stomach. Your baby has a ring of muscle (valve) where his food pipe joins his stomach. The muscular valve opens to let through milk the baby has swallowed, and closes to keep milk in his tummy. Babies usually get reflux because the ring of muscle hasnt developed fully yet. This means that when the babys tummy is full, milk and acid can come back up the food pipe, causing discomfort. If your babys reflux is mild, and hes still feeding well and isnt too upset by it, these tips may help: Hold baby in an upright position when feeding. After each feed upright for 20 to 30 minutes. Giving baby smaller but more frequent feeds. Bottle fed babies need to be burped every two to three minutes while being fed. 5.2 Explain what colic is. What are the main reasons babies experience this condition. How can you support the baby through these times? Colic happens when a healthy baby cries excessively and cant be soothed. It is also called persistent crying. For a new mum this sort of crying can be very upsetting, trying to comfort a crying baby over many hours is hard work and leaves mum feeling helpless. This persistent crying can drive mum to tears herself. It is important for the maternity nurse to let mum know that she is doing nothing wrong and baby is crying for no particular reason. It usually starts between two weeks and four weeks and is usually over by the time baby turns three or four months old. When babies have colic, they cry more often and for longer periods. After some time their crying will become the same as babies who do not have colic. It is not known why some babies will cry more than other babies. Colic affects boys and girls in equal measure and breastfed and formula babies. It is important to reassure new mothers that their crying is not a result of anything they are doing.(Barr et al 2005) There are a number of reasons a baby may be crying: Indigestion and wind may be caused by a maturing gut Babies have to learn how to stop crying Babies may need to be cuddled The following suggestions may comfort baby by simulating the environment of the uterus: Ensure your heartbeat is regular and hold baby close to your body Swaddle baby if he is less than a month old and snugly wrap baby. Make sure it is quiet and dark. A warm calming bath can soothe baby. Rocking or swaying can also be calming. 5.3 Explain a range of allergies or intolerances which may contribute to colic or a baby being unsettled and how would you recognise them. In certain cases, babys crying is caused by: An allergy which is temporary A possible intolerance to milk protein in breast or formula milk A lactose intolerance which may be temporary A breastfeeding position which is awkward (baby may not have latched on correctly) Other illness such as fever, upset tummy etc. In rare cases (1 in 10), babies may cry for different reasons, the symptoms will be: Cry which may be high pitched or not sound normal Bringing up or runny tummy, possible loss of weight or blood in stool Problems with feeding or not keeping milk down 6.1 Explain expected weight patterns of a newborn, and identify why and when to seek help. The average newborn weighs around 7.5 pounds, although birth weights can range between 5.5 to 10 pounds. Babies lose 6 10 percent of their body weight in the initial days after birth, most of this weight loss is surplus body water. After approximately 3 4 days the newborn will start to regain weight and should equal or pass the birth weight between 10 14 days. In the following 3 months, an infant should grow around an ounce a day. Between 3 6 months weight gain will normally slow to 4 5 ounces per week. Between 6 12 months weight gain reduces to 2 3 ounces a week. It is important for the parents of new born babies to remember the weight of an infant is only one indicator of growth, others are height and head circumference. A useful way of monitoring a childs growth is to plot all three growth measurements. The following are good indicators of why and when to seek help: Newborns growth measurements are significantly lower than average Newborn is not eating or sleeping well, may affect weight Newborn starts to lose weight without any extra activity 6.2 Explain best practice in caring for the cord, circumcision, nails, scalp and eyes. Include what could cause a problem, and how you would rectify this. Cord Important to keep dry Sponge baths recommended, avoid immersing newborn in water If the cord is too moist or begins to ooze, the base of the cord should be wiped with water or rubbing alcohol and then dried off Once cord falls off, continue to clean base Circumcision After every nappy change put petroleum jelly (Vaseline) on the head of the penis Initially the penis head will be red and swollen and a yellow sticky coating may appear, continue to apply petroleum jelly Once coating is gone, petroleum jelly does not need to be applied Nails Newborns hands can be covered to stop scratching Once nails are long enough, the tips may be peeled away manually Nail clipper can be used to remove part of the nail which is not connected to skin Emery board or nail file can be used to smooth sharp edges Scalp Should be treated with baby or mineral oil either once or twice a week If cradle cap develops, oil should be massaged into scalp and a fine comb used to loosen the scales Eyes Outside of the newborns eyes should be cleaned carefully when bathing If red spots are noticed on the white part of the eye or iris, nothing needs to be done as these are spots of blood and do not affect the babys vision or cause pain If thick yellow or green discharge occurs, a GP should be consulted 6.4 Explain how best to support a mother in making the change from breast to bottle. Provide information for 2 ways to handle this transition, listing the pros and cons for each. Making the change from breast feeding to bottle can be very difficult for new mums, often they can have feelings of inadequacy and guilt. They need to be supported by the dad or friends and family during this time. Also, it may help if a professional speaks to them to explain these feelings are normal. It may be useful to speak to other new mums as they will have similar feelings. When weaning from breast to bottle, there are a number of different ways to go about this, however whichever way is chosen it should always be gradual so both mum and baby have a chance to get used to it. One method is a combination of breast and cup feeding, pro baby has a chance to get used to a new way of feeding, con it may take longer to wean baby off breast. Another method is to wait a bit longer and then switch from breast to bottle, pros transition may be quicker and gives baby no other option but to get used to it, cons can be a shock for baby and mum. 6.5 Explain how the feeding will change over the first 6 weeks in a formula feed baby. Week 0 3 : between 30ml to 60ml at each feed, every 2 3 hours about 8 times a day. Baby will only be able to manage small amounts of formula. Week 4 6 : between 90ml to 120 ml at each feed, every 3 4 hours about 6 times a day. Daily consumption may be between 400 to 800 ml per day. As weight is gained, the baby should start eating more at each feed, also time between feeding will increase. Growth spurts often occur at 7 14 days old or 3 6 weeks. 7.1 Analyse the advantages and disadvantages of on demand feeding. Advantages on demand feeding Promotes trust and bonding as needs are met instantly Can help baby reach a good weight quickly Alleviates and prevents engorgement Babies have also been found to have fewer digestive problems Disadvantages on demand feeding Harder to predict and manage a childs feeding schedule if there is no schedule Amount of food not regulated Feeding cannot be planned in advanced 7.2 Analyse the main differences between two opposing theories of the sleep patterns of babies. The two sleep pattern theories I will be looking at are: hunger and comfort. Hunger Babies have small stomachs and cannot hold a lot of food in their stomachs Babies wake up to refill because their stomachs are empty Comfort Babies are not always hungry when they wake up Babies are looking for contact and comfort Babies need to be held and loved 7.3 Explain the need to start good sleeping and feeding practices with a newborn and how you help a mother implement them. It is very important to start good sleeping and feeding practices with a newborn. In the first few weeks newborns typically sleep for up to 18 hours a day. They require a lot of sleep for their development and growth, thus the need to develop good sleeping patterns early on. Good sleeping practices become really important when the newborn reaches 3 months as they start to settle into a pattern and it up to the parents to have made key decisions such as when and where the newborn sleeps. Good feeding practices are equally important for growth and development as newborns typically sleep for 2 to 4 hours at a time, waking up for a feed. The first 12 months in a childs life are crucial as more growth happens in this period than at any other time in a childs life. Also, as with sleep, good feeding practices early on will determine how a newborn gets used to feeding. A mother can be helped to implement good sleeping and feeding practices by establishing a daily routine. Although the newborn is too small to understand, they will start adapting to the habits of doing the same things over a period of time. A few helpful tips are: Ensure the room where the newborn sleeps is dark, leaving the light off at night. Dont make any noise when feeding, practice feeding without the light on. Establish a pre bed routine such as warm baths, soothing music before nap time. UNIT TITLE: Breast Feeding Support Skills 1. Why might Luke be unsettled at the breast? Give solutions to the reasons you have suggested. Luke may be unsettled at the breast as he may not be latched onto mums breast properly. It is very important that the latch is done properly and many new mums need help with it. It is a common mistake new mums make; they only put the nipple into babys mouth.   To latch properly the nipple and part of the areola needs to be in babys mouth while feeding.   To help mum obtain a good latch, ask mum to hold baby in arm she is not feeding with and line baby to nipple. Use feeding hand to help manoeuvre the nipple in. Its less likely for the nipple to get sore if the latch is done correctly.   Annabelle will need to check to see if mums nipples are sore which may be causing her to tense up while feeding baby. If it is sore she can suggest: To keep feeding Luke because if she stops breastfeeding, it may be difficult to restart once her breasts in particular her nipples have healed. A short term option in the case of worse pain on either side, may be to feed from the breast which is not as painful. A nipple shield could be used in order to avoid further damage to mums nipple, although using the nipple shield can create a suction which can open the cracks on mums breasts. The main disadvantages to this method may be a reduction in the supply of milk and the nipple shield can alter how baby sucks. Many mothers have found relief by rubbing breast milk over their nipples after a feed or purified lanolin ointment, until healing occurs. This principle is called moist would healing. 2. What could be causing the pink patch? How would you remedy this? The pink patch could be caused by milk getting blocked in the ducts. Mastitis is caused when blocked ducts are not removed which turns into breast infections, mum will feel like she has the flu. Its advised to feed on the breast that has the blocked duct,  nurse frequently empty the breasts thoroughly.  Aim for nursing at least every 2 hours, keeping the affected breast as empty as possible, but not neglecting the other breast. When unable to breastfeed, mum should express milk frequently and thoroughly (with a breast pump or by hand). Mum will need to rest and have lots of fluids and nutritious foods to help strengthen her immune system. She should wear her bra loosely and remove any constrictive clothing to aid milk flow. Heat  and gentle  massage  before nursing also helps with blocked ducts. If the blocked duct doesnt clear then mum has to consult the doctor. If the blocked duct is not cleared it can turn into an abscess and may need to be drained. 3. What questions should you ask Susan about her feeding patterns since she got home, and why? I would ask Susan the following questions: How many times is she feeding Luke per day? Susan should be aiming to feed Luke between 8 10 times a day. Frequent feeding encourages good milk supply and will reduce engorgement. Is she feeding Luke on a schedule or when he appears to be hungry? There are differing viewpoints on which method is better. Personally I would recommend feeding when hungry as Susan has just brought Luke home from the hospital. How long does she allow Luke at the breast when feeding? It is important to allow Luke unlimited time at the breast when feeding to ensure he feeds well and has a good sleep. 4. Develop a plan to help Susan breastfeed successfully, saying why you recommend this. Breastfeed Luke according to his needs (on demand feeding) Breastfeeding Luke on demand will help prevent engorgement, reduce sore nipples and help to ensure the supply of milk matches babys hunger. Encourage Susan to keep Luke skin-to-skin for the first few weeks. This will encourage bonding between Susan and Luke and assist with stimulating the hormones needed to produce milk. Susan and Luke should sleep in the same room for the first few weeks. This will help Susan to learn Lukes feeding cues, this should not affect Susans sleep as research shows that even if new mums sleep in a different room, their sleep patterns often mirror their newborns. Encourage Susan not to use dummies or bottles. When feeding by bottle, babies have to use different tongue and jaw movements, this can confuse babies when switching between nipple and bottle. Encourage Susan to only feed Luke breast milk unless it becomes necessary to feed him something else. Breast milk provides all the nutrients and antibodies needed by Luke. If there are concerns about Lukes weight, Susan should try frequent feeding. Most mothers can produce enough breastmilk for their babies so it is best to try and feed baby more instead of resorting to supplementary feeding. Unit title Breastfeeding Support Skills Analyse the main benefits of breastfeeding Breastfeeding is good for a newborn as breast milk contains substances which cannot be reproduced or replaced by formula. Breast milk contains nutrients which newborns need and antibodies to protect newborns from infection. Breastfeeding is a positive experience for both mum and the newborn as it strengthens the maternal bond and makes the infant feel safe and nurtured. It allows the mum to provide the newborn with everything needed for good growth and development. The main benefits of breastfeeding are: Contains good balance of nutrients and antibodies in an easily digestible form. Can reduce onset of common allergies such as asthma and eczema. Minimises occurrence of illness such as diarrhoea, ear infections, respiratory illness and stomach bugs. Enhances special bond between mum and newborn. No cost involved and burns calories for mum. 2.1 Explain how the main structures of the breast are involved in lactation The main structures of the breast involved in lactation are the nipple, areola, lactiferous duct (milk duct) and the lobes of the mammary gland. When the newborn takes the nipple and areola into their mouth to suckle the areolar glands provide lubrication during breastfeeding. The milk ducts transport milk from the mammary glands to the nipple allowing the newborn to feed. Breast milk is released from milk duct orifices (holes) on the nipples surface. 2.2 Explain the role of hormones in producing and releasing breastmilk The below diagram and explanation alongside best explain the role of hormones in the production of breastmilk, obtained from the following website: http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/esp/2001_saladin/folder_structure/re/m2/s6/index.htm 2.3 Identify and summarise the constituents of colostrums, foremilk and hindmilk There are 3 types of breastmilk, colostrum, foremilk and hindmilk. Colostrum: Yellowish colour. Produced before lactation begins, in the initial days after birth of the newborn. Rich in antibodies and nutrients. Foremilk: Is the milk the newborn first tastes during a feeding. Thin and lower in fat content. Hindmilk: Follows foremilk during feeding. High in calories and richer in fat content. 5.2 Explain how the effects of drugs can be passed to babies through breastmilk and ways in which this can be minimised When breastfeeding if the mum takes drugs, it is excreted into the milk which the newborn drinks. Depending on the drug taken by the mum, this can then have adverse effects on the newborn. Although these passed on substances are mildly filtered by the mothers metabolism their harmful effects still impact the newborn because of the small body-weight ratio. These harmful effects may be minimised by: Limiting the intake of the drugs. Extend the time between taking the drug and the babys feed, at least 2 to 3 hours. Try to feed newborn before taking drugs. Where possible take substitute drugs which are less harmful. References (below sites accessed between 1 February 2013 5 April 2013 http://www.nhs.uk http://www.nct.org.uk http://www.babycentre.co.uk http://www.mummypages.ie http://www.babycenter.com.au Home

Comparing King Arthur and With Honors :: Movies Film With Honors King Arthur Essays

Comparing King Arthur and With Honors Have you ever watched a movie or read a novel without a plot? Most likely your answer to this question would be no, because it would be dull. No one wants to hear a story with no intrigue or conflict. As you read a novel or watch a film, you want to connect with the characters and feel you can relate to the situations they’re dealing with. In every film and every story there’s a conflict the main character(s) is facing. The story of King Arthur, and the film With Honors appear at first to be on opposite sides of the entertainment spectrum. However, both are excellent examples of searching for ones inner human, and life’s meaning. While watching the film With Honors one could pick up on a lot of symbolism, foreshadowing, and numerous heroes’ journeys. Each character goes through their own search and personal development. For example the character Courtney played by Maria Kelly. In the beginning of the film she’s head over heals for her roommate and close friend Monty played by Brendan Fraiser. As the story unfolds, Courtney’s eyes are opened to see Monty’s true inner human qualities. The biggest heroes journey in the film With Honors is the journey Monty a Harvard law student goes through. During a heavy snowstorm one night, his computer freezes up, while he’s in the middle of working on his thesis paper, which he needs to pass in order to graduate. He goes to the library to make a copy of what he already has saved, but then he trips and drops his thesis into the basement of the library. Once in the library he finds a bum burning up his thesis for heat. The bum whose name Simon played by Joe Pesci. Simon makes a deal with Monty he will give him back his thesis page by page, for every good deed he does towards him. As the story unfolds Monty and Simon change each other’s lives. Monty starts off as an uptight, stereotypical, close-minded young man. Before knowing Monty, Simon is very set is his ways, and unapproachable. Because Monty and Simon’s personalities are so different, they are FOILS. As Monty earns back pages of his thesis Simon becomes a father figure to him. He shows him what is really valuable in life. Simon keeps rocks from memorial places; the rocks represent Simon’s life.

Bachelor of Social Work Application

Social work is a vital part of every community. Social work aims at better understanding the issues concerning the people with respect to their environment and works on improving the living standards and the general human conditions. It is the science of exploring the dilemmas present in societies and community and make positive changes to social justice and economic status. This paper would address to questions social work related issues and problems. It would elaborate on the ethical concerns of social work. Moreover, it would discuss the role of self awareness with respect to social work.Discussion Social work related issue: Working as a social correspondent is not an easy task. Social work involves the responsibilities of insuring the rehabilitation of the society and its counterparts in a way that a better quality of life is granted to the people through solving the domestic issues and problems. One of the pressing issues in today's communities and homes is the abundant use of d rugs. over the passage of time, one of the major relief giver that people find from the tension and stress of the fast paced lifestyles is the use of drugs to relax the mind.Drug abuse is often an addiction and it has a vital affect on an individuals environments. Youngsters are more prone to this issue and need protection in situations where there family members are drug abusers. It is the responsibility of social workers to make sure that there are no youngsters that are at risk at home or elsewhere due to drug abusing and if cases are found, youngsters need to be taken into care. Social workers often find it difficult to assess the number of children that are living in high risk situations where they are not available with adequate safety, protection and support from drug abusing parents.In societies where there are no legal regulations and inadequate authorities, people are prone to drug abuse and this is when the social work is needed in order to maintain the safety and protect ion for the residents. Professional ethics in social work practice: Being aware of the ethical codes is a fundamental part of being a professional social worker. The ethical responsibilities that rest with social workers include the factor of loyalty that they have towards their work. Social workers work in the best interest of people and this often conflicts with the factors of efficiency and utility.Furthermore, it is a fact that the resources are often limited when it comes to working within societies. One of the major foils of the professional ethical code of conduct of social workers is the factor of mutual respect and dignity of everyone. Social work is the profession that encourages social change and it builds the relationship among people in order to enhance their well-being. For social work to be effective and efficient, social workers need to defend each person's emotional, physical and psychological well being and integrity in the best manner possible.Social workers are a lso responsible for maintaining social justice. For this to be effective, they need to respect diversity and abstain from discrimination on the bases of age, sex, culture, socio-economics background and various other aspects. Social work inherits the ethical responsibility of challenging any unjust policies or practices that are carried out and ensure that all the resources are distributed fairly according to the needs. (Levy, 1993) There are some other ethical codes of conduct that need to be followed by social workers in order to remain professional and qualifies in their field.It is unlawful to use the social work in negative schemes such as torturing or black mailing people into getting them to act in certain ways. Social workers are expected to retain empathy and compassion while dealing with people. Confidentiality of the people of use social services and accountability of actions are also important characteristics of the ethical responsibilities of social workers. (Levy, 1993 ) Self-awareness: Self awareness in social work is as important as the ethical implications.It is important to keep a respectful and non-judgmental attitude when working with people. Self awareness is basically the recognition of the element of one's personality. It includes the strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes. It is very important for social workers to develop self awareness as it helps them in recognizing when and how they get under pressure and stressed. Self awareness is vital for a more open and thorough communication because interpersonal relations is the core of social work.Self awareness is correlated with ethics and it helps ensure that the workers are empathetic towards the people and they develop and consciousness of how they view the world and the values that they hold. Developing an understanding on one's own values, cultures and beliefs helps in respecting a multicultural and diversified view of the society. Once the thoughts, beliefs, personality traits, val ues and biases that lie within a person are recognized, it is easy for the workers to acknowledge the different identifies and personalities that exist in societies and it is easier to overcome biases and maintain a more empathetic overview.Self awareness is therefore a skill that is critical for social workers to inculcate in order for them to acquire professional growth and become competent in their field. Conclusion In the end it is important to understand that social work involves dealing with all kinds of people and rehabilitating them and the society as a whole in order to facilitate justice and enable a better quality and standard of living for the society. Hence, it is important to maintain ethical responsibilities and carry out the work without any implicit bias. References Levy, C. S (1993). Social work ethics on the line. Haworth press.

Importance of arts Essay

Now we must study the following questions: What significance does art acquire if we assume that our interpretation of it is correct? What is the relation between aesthetic response and all other forms of human behavior? How do we explain the role and importance of art in the general behavioral system of man? There are as many different answers to these questions as there are different ways of evaluating the importance of art. Some believe art is the supreme human activity while others consider it nothing but leisure and fun. The evaluation of art depends directly on the psychological viewpoint from which we approach it. If we want to find out what the relationship between art and life is, if we want to solve the problem of art in terms of applied psychology, we must adopt a valid general theory for solving these problems. The first and most widespread view holds that art infects us with emotions and is therefore based upon contamination. Tolstoy says, â€Å"The activity of art is ba sed on the capacity of people to infect others with their own emotions and to be infected by the emotions of others. †¦ Strong emotions, weak emotions, important emotions, or irrelevant emotions, good emotions or bad emotions – if they contaminate the reader, the spectator, or the listener – become the subject of art. This statement means that since art is but common emotion, there is no substantial difference between an ordinary feeling and a feeling stirred by art. Consequently, art functions simply as a resonator, an amplifier, or a transmitter for the infection of feeling. Art has n6 specific distinction; hence the evaluation of art must proceed from the same criterion which we use to evaluate any feeling. Art may be good or bad if it infects us with good or bad feelings. Art in itself is neither good nor bad; it is a language of feeling which we must evaluate in accordance with what it expresses. Thus, Tolstoy came to the natural conclusion that art must be evaluated from a moral viewpoint; he therefore approved of art that generated good feelings, and objected to art that, from his point of view, represented reprehensible events or actions. Many other critics reached the same conclusions as did Tolstoy and evaluated a work of art on the basis of its obvious content, while praising or condemning the artist accordingly. Like ethics, like aesthetics – this is the slogan of this theory. But Tolstoy soon discovered that his theory failed when he tried to be consistent with his own conclusions. He compared two artistic impressions:  one produced b y a large chorus of peasant women who were celebrating the marriage of his daughter; and the other, by an accomplished musician who played Beethoven’s Sonata. The singing of the peasant women expressed such a feeling of joy, cheerfulness, and liveliness that it infected Tolstoy and he went home in high spirits. According to him, such singing is true art, because it communicates a specific and powerful emotion. Since the second impression involved no such specific emotions, he concluded that Beethoven’s sonata is an unsuccessful artistic attempt which contains no definite emotions and is therefore neither remarkable nor outstanding. This example shows us the absurd conclusions that can be reached if the critical understanding of art is based upon the criterion of its infectiousness. Beethoven’s music incorporates no definite feeling, while the singing of the peasant women has an elementary and contagious gaiety. If this is true, then Yevlakhov is right when he states that â€Å"‘real, true’ art is military or dance music, since it is more catchy.† Tolstoy is consistent in his ideas; beside folk songs, he recognizes only â€Å"marches and dances written by various composers† as works â€Å"that approach the requirements of universal art.† A reviewer of Tolstoy’s article, V. G. Valter, points out that â€Å"if Tolstoy had said that the gaiety of the peasant women put him in a good mood, one could not object to that. It would mean that the language of emotions that expressed itself in their singing (it could well have expressed itself simply in yelling, and most like ly did) infected Tolstoy with their gaiety. But what has this to do with art? Tolstoy does not say whether the women sang well; had they not sung but simply yelled, beating their scythes, their fun and gaiety would have been no less catching, especially on his daughter’s wedding day.† We feel that if we compare an ordinary yell of fear to a powerful novel in terms of their respective infectiousness, the latter will fail the test. Obviously, to understand art we must add something else to simple infectiousness. Art also produces other impressions, and Longinus’ statement, â€Å"You must know that the orator pursues one purpose, and the poet another. The purpose of poetry is trepidation, that of prose is expressivity,† is correct. Tolstoy’s formula failed to account for the trepidation which is the purpose of poetry. But to prove that he is really wrong, we must look at the art of military and dance music and find out whether the true purpose of that art is to infect. Petrazhitskii assumes  that aestheticians are wrong when they claim that the purpose of art is to generate aesthetic emotions only. He feels that art produces general emotions, and that aesthetic emotions are merely decorative. â€Å"For instance, the art of a warlike period in the life of a people has as its main purpose the excitation of heroic-bellicose emotions. Even now, military music is not intended to give the soldiers in the field aesthetic enjoyment, but to excite and enhance their belligerent feelings. The purpose of medieval art (including sculpture and architecture) was to produce lofty religious emotions. Lyric appeals to one aspect of our emotional psyche, satire to another; the same applies to drama, tragedy, and so on †¦ Apart from the fact that military music does not generate bellicose emotions on the battlefield, the question is not properly formulated here. Ovsianiko-Kulikovskii, for example, comes closer to the truth when he says that â€Å"military lyrics and music ‘lift the spirit’ of the army and ‘inspire’ feats of valor and heroic deeds, but neither of them leads directly to bellicose emotions or belligerent affects. On the contrary, they seem to moderate bellicose ardor, calm an excited nervous system, and chase away fear. We can say that lifting morale, calming nerves, and chasing away fear are among the most important practical functions of ‘lyrics’ which result from their psychological nature. It is therefore wrong to think that music can directly cause warlike emotions; more precisely, it gives bellicose emotions an opportunity for expression, but music as such neither causes nor generates them. Something similar happens with erotic poetry, the sole purpose of which, according to Tolstoy, is to excite lust. Anyone who understands the true nature of lyrical emotions knows that Tolstoy is wrong. â€Å"There is no doubt that lyrical emotion has a soothing effect on all other emotions (and affects) to the point that at times it paralyzes them. This is also the effect it has on sexuality with its emotions and affects. Erotic poetry, if it is truly lyrical, is far less suggestive than works of the visual arts in which the problems of love and the notorious sex problem are treated with the purpose of producing a moral reaction. Ovsianiko-Kulikovskii is only partly correct in his assumption that sexual feeling, which is easily excited, is most strongly stirred by images and thoughts, that these images and thoughts are rendered harmless by lyrical emotion, and that mankind is indebted to lyrics, even more than to ethics,  for the taming and restraining of sexual instincts. He underestimates the importance of the other art forms, which he calls figurative, and does not remark that in their case also emotions provoked by images are counteracted by the nonlyrical emotion of art. Thus we see that Tolstoy’s theory does not hold in the domain of the applied arts, where he thought its validity to be absolute. As concerns great art (the art of Beethoven and Shakespeare), Tolstoy himself pointed out that his theory is inapplicable. Art would have a dull and ungrateful task if its only purpose were to infect one or many persons with feelings. If this were so, its significance would be very small, because there would be only a quantitative expansion and no qualitative expansion beyond an individual’s feeling. The miracle of art would then be like the bleak miracle of the Gospel, when five barley loaves and two small fishes fed thousands of people, all of whom ate and were satisfied, and a dozen baskets were filled with the remaining food. This miracle is only quantitative: thousands were fed and were satisfied, but each of them ate only fish and bread. But was this not their daily diet at home, without any miracles? If the only purpose of a tragic poem were to infect us with the author’s sorrow, this would be a very sad situation indeed for art. The miracle of art reminds us much more of another miracle in the Gospel, the transformation of water into wine. Indeed, art’s true nature is that of transubstantiation, something that transcends ordinary feelings; for the fear, pain, or excitement caused by art includes something above and beyond its normal, conventional content. This â€Å"something† overcomes feelings of fear and pain, changes water into wine, and thus fulfills the most important purpose of art. One of the great thinkers said once that art relates to life as wine relates to the grape. With this he meant to say that art takes its material from life, but gives in return something which its material did not contain. Initially, an emotion is individual, and only by means of a work of art does it become s ocial or generalized. But it appears that art by itself contributes nothing to this emotion. It is not clear, then, why art should be viewed as a creative act nor how it differs from an ordinary yell or an orator’s speech. Where is the trepidation of which Longinus spoke, if art is viewed only as an exercise in infectiousness? We realize that science does not simply infect one person or a whole society with thoughts and ideas, any more than technology helps man  to be handy. We can also recognize that art is an expanded â€Å"social feeling† or technique of feelings, as we shall show later. Plekhanov states that the relationship between art and life is extremely complex, and he is right. He quotes Tairfe who investigated the interesting question of why landscape painting evolved only in the city. If art were intended merely to infect us with the feelings that life communicates to us, then landscape painting could not survive in the city. History, however, proves exactly the opposite. Taine writes, â€Å"We have the right to admire landscapes, just as they had the right to be bored by it. For seventeenth-century man there was nothing uglier than a mountain. It aroused in him many unpleasant ideas, because he was as weary of barbarianism as we are weary of civilization. Mountains give us a chance to rest, away from our sidewalks, offices, and shops; we like landscape only for this reason.† 6 Plekhanov points out that art is sometimes not a direct expression of life, but an expression of its antithesis. The idea, of course, is not in the leisure of which Taine speak s, but in a certain antithesis: art releases an aspect of our psyche which finds no expression in our everyday life. We cannot speak of an infection with emotions. The effect of art is obviously much more varied and complex; no matter how we approach art, we always discover that it involves something different from a simple transmission of feelings. Whether or not we agree with Lunacharskii that art is a concentration of life, we must realize that it proceeds from certain live feelings and works upon those feelings, a fact not considered by Tolstoy’s theory. We have seen that this process is a catharsis – the transformation of these feelings into opposite ones and their subsequent resolution. This view of course agrees perfectly with Plekhanov’s principle of antithesis in art. To understand this we must look at the problem of the biological significance of art, and realize that art is not merely a means for infection but something immeasurably more important in itself. In his â€Å"Three Chapters of Historic Poetics,† Veselovskii says that ancient singing and playing were born from a complex need for catharsis; a cho rus sung during hard and exhausting work regulates muscular effort by its rhythm, and apparently aimless play responds to the subconscious requirement of training and regulation of physical or intellectual effort. This is also the requirement of psychophysical catharsis formulated by Aristotle for the drama; it manifests itself in the  unsurpassed mastery of Maori women to shed tears at will, and also in the overwhelming tearfulness of the eighteenth century. The phenomenon is the same; the difference lies only in expression and understanding. We perceive rhythm in poetry as something artistic and forget its primitive psychophysical origins. The best repudiation of the contamination theory is the study of those psychophysical principles on which art is based and the explanation of the biological significance of art. Apparently art releases and processes some extremely complex organismic urges. The best corroboration of our viewpoint can be found in the fact that it agrees with Bucher’s studies on the origins of art and permits us to understand the true role and purpose of art. Bucher established that music and poetry have a common origin in heavy physical labor. Their object was to relax cathartically the tremendous stress created by labor. This is how Bucher formulated the general content of work songs: â€Å"They follow the general trend of work, and signal the beginning of a simultaneous collective effort; they try to incite th e men to work by derision, invective, or reference to the opinion of spectators; they express the thoughts of the workers about labor itself, its course, its gear, and so forth, as well as their joys or sorrows, their complaints about the hardness of the work and the inadequate pay; they address a plea to the owner, the supervisor, or simply to the spectator.† The two elements of art and their resolution are found here. The only peculiarity of these songs is that the feeling of pain and hardship which must be solved by art is an essential part of labor itself. Subsequently, when art detaches itself from labor and begins to exist as an independent activity, it introduces into the work of art the element which was formerly generated by labor: the feelings of pain, torment, and hardship (which require relies are now aroused by art itself, but their nature remains the same. Biicher makes an extremely interesting statement: â€Å"The peoples of antiquity considered song an indispensable accompaniment of hard labor.† From this we realize that song at first organized collective labor, then gave relief and relaxation to painful and tormenting strain. We shall see that art, even in its highest manifestations, completely separate from labor and without any direct connection thereto, has maintained the same functions. It still must systematize, or organize, social feeling and give relief to painful and tormenting strain. Quintilian puts it this way: â€Å"And  it appears as if [music] were given to us by nature in order to make labor bearable. For instance, the rower is inspired by song; it is useful not only where the efforts of many are combined, but also when it is intended to provide rest for an exhausted worker.† Thus art arises originally as a powerful tool in the struggle for existence; the idea of reducing its role to a communication of feeling with no power or control over that feeling, is inadmissible. If the purpose of art, like Tolstoy’s chorus of peasant women, were only to make us gay or sad, it would neither have survived nor have ever acquired its present importance. Nietzsche expresses it well injoyful Wisdom, when he says that rhythm involves inducement and incentive: â€Å"It arouses an irresistible desire to imitate, and not only our legs but our very soul follow the beat. †¦ Was there anything more useful than rhythm for ancient, Superstitious mankind? With its help everything became feasible – work could be performed magically, God could be forced to appear and listen to grievances, the future could be changed and corrected at will, one’s soul could be delivered of any abnormality. Without verse man would be nothing; with it, he almost became God.â €  It is quite interesting to see how Nietzsche explains the way in which art succeeded in acquiring such power over man. â€Å"When the normal mood and harmony of the soul were lost, one had to dance to the song of a bard – this was the prescription of that medicine †¦ First of all, inebriation and uncontrolled affect were pushed to the limit, so that the insane became frenzied, and the avenger became saturated with hatred.† Apparently the possibility of releasing into art powerful passions which cannot find expression in normal, everyday life is the biological basis of art. The purpose of our behavior is to keep our organism in balance with its surroundings. The simpler and more elementary our relations with the environment, the simpler our behavior. The more subtle and complex the interaction between organism and environment, the more devious and intricate the balancing process. Obviously this process cannot continue smoothly toward an equilibrium. There will always be a certain imbalance in favor of the environment or the organism. No machine can work toward equilibrium using all its energy efficiently. There are always states of excitation which cannot result in an efficient use of energy. This is why a need arises from time to time to discharge the unused energy and give it free rein in order to reestablish our equilibrium with the rest of the  world. Orshanskii says that feelings â€Å"are the p luses and minuses of our equilibrium.† These pluses and minuses, these discharges and expenditures of unused energy, are the biological function of art. Looking at a child, it is evident that its possibilities are far greater than actually realized. If a child plays at soldiers, cops and robbers, and so on, this means, according to some, that inside himself he really becomes a soldier or a robber. Sherrington’s principle (the principle of struggle for a common field of action) clearly shows that in our organism the nervous receptor fields exceed many times the executing effector neurons, so that the organism perceives many more stimuli than it can possibly attend to. Our nervous system resembles a railway station into which five tracks lead, but only one track leads out. Of five trains arriving at this station, only one ever manages to leave (and this only after a fierce struggle), while the other four remain stalled. The nervous system reminds us of a battlefield where the struggle never ceases, not even for a single instant, and our behavior is an infinitesimal part of what is really included in the possibilities of our nerv ous system, but cannot find an outlet. In nature the realized and executed part of life is but a minute part of the entire conceivable life Oust as every life born is paid for by millions of unborn ones). Similarly, in our nervous system, the realized part of life is only the smallest part of the real life contained in us. Sherrington likens our nervous system to a funnel with its narrow part turned toward action, and the wider part toward the world. The world pours into man, through the wide opening of the funnel 154), thousands of calls, desires, stimuli, etc. enter, but only an infinitesimal part of them is realized and flows out through the narrowing opening. It is obvious that the unrealized part of life, which has not gone through the narrow opening of our behavior, must be somehow utilized and lived. The organism is in an equilibrium with its environment where balance must be maintained, just as it becomes necessary to open a valve in a kettle in which steam pressure exceeds the strength of the vessel. Apparently art is a psychological means for striking a balance with the environment at critical points of our behavior. Long ago the idea had been expressed that art complements life by expanding its possibilities. Von Lange says, â€Å"There is a sorry resemblance between contemporary civilized man and domestic animals: limitation and monotony. Issuing from the patterns of bourgeois  life and its social forms, these are the main features of the individual existence, which lead everybody, rich and poor, weak and strong, talented and deprived, through an incomplete and imperfect life. It is astonishing how limited is the number of ideas, feelings, and actions that modern man can perform or experience.† Lazurskii holds the same view when he explains the theory of empathy by referring to one of Tolstoy’s novels. â€Å"There is a point in Anna Karenina where Tolstoy tells us that Anna reads a novel and suddenly wants to do what the heroes of that novel do: fight, struggle, win with them, go with the protagonist to his estate, and so on.† Freud shares this opinion and speaks of art as a means of appeasing two inimical principles, the principle of pleasure and that of reality. Insofar as we are talking about the meaning of life, these writers come closer to the truth than those who, like Grant-Allen, assume that â€Å"aesthetics are those emotions which have freed themselves from association with practical interests.† This reminds us of Spencer’s formula: he assumed that â€Å"beautiful is what once was, but no longer is, useful.† Developed to its extreme limits, this viewpoint leads to the theory of games, which is accepted by many philosophers, and g iven its highest expression by Schiller. The one serious objection against it is that, in not recognizing art as a creative act, it tends to reduce it to the biological function of exercising certain organs, a fact of little importance for the adult. Much more convincing are the other theories which consider art an indispensable discharge of nervous energy and a complex method of finding an equilibrium between our organism and the environment in critical instances of our behavior. We resort to art only at critical moments in our life, and therefore can understand why the formula we propose views art as a creative act. If we consider art to be catharsis, it is perfectly clear that it cannot arise where there is nothing but live and vivid feeling. A sincere feeling taken per se cannot create art. It lacks more than technique or mastery, because a feeling expressed by a technique will never generate a lyric poem or a musical composition. To do this we require the creative act of overcoming the feeling, resolving it, conquering it. Only when this act has been performed – then and only then is art born. This is why the perception of art requires creativity: it is not enough to experience sincerely the feeling, or feelings, of the author; it is not enough to understand the structure of the work of art; one must also  creatively overcome one’s own feelings, and find one’s own catharsis; only then will the effect of art be complete. This is why we agree with Ovsianiko-Kulikovskii who says that the purpose of military music is not to arouse bellicose emotions but, by establishing an equilibrium between the organism and the environment at a critical moment for the organism, to discipline and organize its work, provide appropriate relief to its feelings, to chase away fear, and to open the way to courage and valor. Thus, art never directly generates a practical action; it merely prepares the organism for such action. Freud says that a, frightened person is terrified and runs when he sees danger; the useful part of this behavior is that he runs, not that he is frightened. In art, the reverse is true: fear per se is useful. Man’s release per se is useful, because it creates the possibility of appropriate flight or attack. This is where we must consider the economy of our feelings, which Ovsianiko-Kulikovskii describes thus: â€Å"The harmonic rhythm of lyrics creates emotions which differ from the majority of other emotions in that such ‘lyric emotions’ save our psychic energies by putting our ‘psychic household’ into harmonic order.† This is not the same economy of which we talked earlier, it is not an attempt to avoid the output of psychic energies. In this respect art is not subordinated to the principle of the economy of strength; on the contrary, art is an explosive and sudden expenditure of strength, of forces (psychic and otherwise), a discharge of ene rgy. A work of art perceived coldly and prosaically, or processed and treated to be perceived in this way, saves much more energy and force than if it were perceived with the full effect of its artistic form in mind. Although it is an explosive discharge, art does introduce order and harmony into the â€Å"psychic household,† of our feelings. And of course the waste of energy performed by Anna Karenina when she experienced the feelings and emotions of the heroes of the novel she was reading, is a saving of psychic forces if compared to the actual emotion. A more complex and deeper meaning of the principle of economizing emotions will become clearer if we try to understand the social significance of art. Art is the social within us [55], and even if its action is performed by a single individual, it does not mean that its essence is individual. It is quite naive and inappropriate to take the social to be collective, as with a large crowd of persons. The social also exists where there is only one  person with his individual experiences and tribulations. This is why the action of art, when it performs catharsis and pushes into this purifying flame the most intimate and important experiences, emotions, and feelings of the soul, is a social action. But this experience does not happen as described in the theory of contaminati on (where a feeling born in one person infects and contaminates everybody and becomes social), but exactly the other way around. The melting of feelings outside us is performed by the strength of social feeling, which is objectivized, materialized, and projected outside of us, then fixed in external objects of art which have become the tools of society. A fundamental characteristic of man, one that distinguishes him from animals, is that he endures and separates from his body both the apparatus of technology and that of scientific knowledge, which then become the tools of society. Art is the social technique of emotion, a tool of society which brings the most intimate and personal aspects of our being into the circle of social life. It would be more correct to say that emotion becomes personal when every one of us experiences a work of art; it becomes personal without ceasing to be social. â€Å"Art,† says Guyau, â€Å"is a condensation of reality; it shows us the human machine under high pressure. It tries to show us more life phenomena than we actually experience.† Of course this life, concentrated in art, exerts an effect not only on our emotions but also on our will â€Å"because emotion contains the seed of will.† Guyau correctly attributes a tremendous importance to the role played by art in society. It in troduces the effects of passion, violates inner equilibrium, changes will in a new sense, and stirs feelings, emotions, passions, and vices without which society would remain in an inert and motionless state. It â€Å"pronounces the word we were seeking and vibrates the string which was strained but soundless. A work of art is the center of attraction, as is the active will of a genius: if Napoleon attracts will, Corneille and Victor Hugo do so too, but in a different way. †¦ Who knows the number of crimes instigated by novels describing murders? Who knows the number of divorces resulting from representations of debauchery?† â€Å"Guyau formulates the question in much too primitive a way, because he imagines that art directly causes this or the other emotion. Yet, this never happens. A representation of murder does not cause murder. A scene of debauchery does not inspire divorce; the  relationship between art and life is very complex, and in a very approximate way it can be described as will be shown. Hennequin sees the difference between aesthetic and real emotion in the fact that aesthetic emotion does not immediately express itself in action. He says, however, that if repeated over and over again, these emotions can become the basis for an individual’s behavior; thu s, an individual can be affected by the kind of literature he reads. â€Å"An emotion imparted by a work of art is not capable of expressing itself in immediate actions. In this respect aesthetic feelings differ sharply from actual feelings. But, since they serve an end in themselves, they justify themselves and need not be immediately expressed in any practical activity; aesthetic emotions can, by accumulation and repetition, lead to substantial practical results. These results depend upon the general properties of aesthetic emotion and the particular properties of each of these emotions. Repeated exercises of a specific group of feelings under the effect of invention, imagination, or unreal rnoods or causes that generally cannot result in action do not require active manifestations, and doubtless weaken the property common to all real emotions, that of expression in action. †¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"I Hennequin introduces two very important corrections, but his solution of the problem remains quite primitive. He is correct in saying that aesthetic emotion does not immediately generate action, that it manifests itself in the change of purpose. He is als o correct when he states that aesthetic emotion not only does not generate the actions of which it speaks, but is completely alien to them. On the basis of Guyau’s example, we could say that the reading of novels about murder not only does not incite us to murder, but actually teaches us not to kill; but this point of view of Hennequin’s, although it is more applicable than the former, is quite simple compared with the subtle function assigned to art. As a matter of fact, art performs an extremely complex action with our passions and goes far beyond the limits of these two simplistic alternatives. Andrei Bely says that when we listen to music we feel what giants must have felt. Tostoy masterfully describes this high tension of art in his Kreutzer Sonata: † Do you know the first place? Do you really know it?† he explains. Oh! †¦ A sonata is a frightening thing. Yes, this part, precisely. Music, generally, is a frightening thing. What is it? I don’t understand. What is music? What does it do? And why does it do whatever it does? They say that music elevates our  soul. Rubbish, nonsen se! It does work, it has a terrible effect (I am talking for myself, but it certainly does not lift the soul. It does not lift the soul, nor does it debase it, but it irritates it. How can I put it? Music makes me oblivious of myself; it makes me forget my true position; it transfers me into another position, not mine, not my own: it seems to me, under the effect of music, that I feel what I don’t feel, that I understand what I actually don’t understand, can’t understand. †¦ â€Å"Music immediately, suddenly, transports me into the mood which must have been that of the man who wrote it. I become one with him, and together with him I swing from one mood into another, from one state into another, but why I am doing it, I don’t know. That fellow, for instance, who wrote the Kreutzer Sonata, Beethoven, he knew why he was in that state. That state led him to certain actions, and therefore, for him, that state was sensible. For me, it means nothing, it is completely senseless. And this is why music only irritates and achieves nothing. Well, if I play a military march, the soldiers will march in step, and the music has achieved its purpose; if dance music is played, I dance, and the music achieves its purpose. Or, if Mass is sung and I take communion, well, here too the music has achieved its purpose; otherwise, it is only irritation, and no one knows what to do with this irritation. This is why music occasionally has such a horrible,terrifying effect. In China music is an affair of state, and this is how it should be †¦ â€Å"Otherwise it could be a terrifying tool in the hands of anybody. Take for instance the Kreutzer Sonata. How can one play its presto in a drawing room, amidst ladies in decollete? Play it, and then busy oneself, then eat some ice cream and listen to the latest gossip? No, these things can b e played only in the face of significant, important circumstances, and then it will be necessary to perform certain appropriate acts that fit the music. If it must be played, we must act according to its setting of our mood. Otherwise the incongruity between the place, the time, the waste of energy, and the feelings which do not manifest themselves will have a disastrous effect.† This excerpt from The Kreutzer Sonata tells us quite convincingly of the incomprehensibly frightening effect of music for the average listener. It reveals a new aspect of the aesthetic response and shows that it is not a blank shot, but a response to a work of art, and a new and powerful stimulus for further action. Art requires a reply, it incites  certain actions, and Tolstoy quite correctly compares the effect of Beethoven’s music with that of a dance tune or a march. In the latter case, the excitement created by the music resolves itself in a response, and a feeling of satisfied repose sets in. In the case of Beethoven’s music we are thrown into a state of confusion and anxiety, because the music reveals those urges and desires that can find a resolution only in exceptionally important and heroic actions. When this music is followed by ice cream and gossip amidst ladies in d’collet, we are left in a state of exceptional anxiety, tension, and disarray. But T olstoy’s character makes a mistake when he compares the irritating and stimulating effect of this music to the effect produced by a military march. He does not realize that the effect of music reveals itself much more subtly, by means of hidden shocks, stresses, and deformations of our constitution. It may reveal itself unexpectedly, and in an extraordinary way. But in this description, two points are made with exceptional clarity: First, music incites, excites, and irritates in an indeterminate fashion not connected with any concrete reaction, motion, or action. This is proof that its effect is cathartic, that is, it clears our psyche, reveals and calls to life tremendous energies which were previously inhibited and restrained. This, however is a consequence of art, not its action. Secondly, music has coercive power. Tolstoy suggests that music should be an affair of state. He believes that music is a public affair. One critic pointed out that when we perceive a work a work of art we think that our reaction is strictly personal and associated only with ourselves. We believe that it has nothing to do social psychology. But this is as wrong as the opinion of a person pays taxes and considers this action only from his own viewpoint own, personal budget, without bearing in mind that he participate the huge and complex economy of the state. He does not reflect that by paying taxes he takes part in involved state operations whose existence he does not even suspect. This is why Freud is wrong when he says that man stands face to face with the reality of nature, and that art be derived from the purely biological difference between the principle of enjoyment toward which all our inclinations gravitate, and that of reality which forces us to renounce satisfaction and pleasure. Between man and the outside world there stands the social environment, which in its own way refracts and directs the stimuli acting upon the individual and guides all  the reactions that emanate from the individual. applied psychology it is therefore of immense significance to know I as Tolstoy puts it, music is something awesome and frightening to average listener. If a military march incites soldiers to march proudly in a parade, what exceptional deeds must Beethoven’s music inspire! Let me repeat: music by itself is isolated from our everyday behavior; it does not drive us to do anything, it only creates a vague and enormous desire for some deeds or actions; it op ens the way for the emergence of powerful, hidden forces within us; it acts like an earthquake as it throws open unknown and hidden strata. The view that art returns us to atavism rather than projecting us into the future, is erroneous. Although music does not generate any direct actions, its fundamental effect, the direction it imparts to psychic catharsis, is essential for the kind of forces it will release, what it will release, and what it will push into the background. Art is the organization of our future behavior. It is a requirement that may never be fulfilled but that forces us to strive beyond our life toward all that lies beyond it. We may therefore call art a delayed reaction, because there is always a fairly long period of time between its effect and its execution. This does not mean, however, that the effect of art is mysterious or mystical or that its explanation requires some new concepts different from those which the psychologist sets up when he analyzes common behavior. Art performs with our bodies and through our bodies. It is remarkable that scholars like Rutz and Sievers, who studied perceptual proc esses and not the effects of art, speak of the dependence of aesthetic perception on a specific muscular constitution of the body. Rutz was the first to suggest that any aesthetic effect must be associated with a definite type of muscular constitution. Sievers applied his idea to the contemplation of sculpture. Other scholars mention a connection between the basic organic constitution of the artist and the structure of his works. From the most ancient times, art has always been regarded as a means of education, that is, as a long-range program for changing our behavior and our organism. The subject of this chapter, the significance of applied arts, involves the educational effect of art. Those who see a relationship between pedagogy and art find their view unexpectedly supported by psychological analysis. We can now address ourselves to the last problems on our agenda, those of the practical effect of art on life  and of its educational significance. The educational significance of art and its practical aspects may be divided into two parts. We have first criticism as a fundamental social force, which opens th e way to art, evaluates it, and serves as a transitional mechanism between art and society. From a psychological point of view, the role of criticism is to organize the effects of art. It gives a certain educational direction to these effects, and since by itself it has no power to influence the basic effect of art per se it puts itself between this effect and the actions into which this effect must finally resolve itself. We feet therefore that the real purpose and task of art criticism is different from its conventional one. Its purpose is not to interpret or explain a work of art, nor is its purpose to prepare the spectator or reader for the perception of a work of art. Only half of the task of criticism is aesthetic; the other half is pedagogical and public. The critic approaches the average â€Å"consumer† of art, for instance, Tolstoy’s hero in The Kreutzer Sonata, at the troublesome point when he is under the incomprehensible and frightening spell of the music and does not know what it will release in him. The critic wishes to be the organizing force, but enters the action when art has already had its victory over the human psyche which now seeks impetus and direction for its action. The dualistic nature of criticism obviously entails a dualistic task. The criticism which consciously and intentionally puts art into prose establishes its social root, and determines the social connec tion that exists between art and the general aspects of life. It gathers our conscious forces counteract or, conversely, to cooperate with those impulses which have been generated by a work of art. This criticism leaves the domain of art and enters the sphere of social life, with the sole purpose of guiding the aesthetically aroused forces into socially useful channels. Everyone knows that a work of art affects different people in different ways. Like a knife, or any other tool, art by itself is neither good nor bad. More precisely, it has tremendous potential for either good or evil. It all depends on what use we make of, or what task m sign to, this tool. To repeat a trite example: a knife in the hands surgeon has a value completely different from that of the same knife the hands of a child. But the foregoing is only half the task of criticism. The other half consists in conserving the effect of art as art, and preventing the read spectator from wasting the forces aroused by art by  substituting for its powerful impulses dull, commonplace, rational-moral precepts. Few understand why it is imperative not only to have the effect of art shape and excite the reader or spectator but also to explain art, and to explain it in such a way that the explanation does not fill the emotion. We can readily show that such explanation is indispensable, our behavior is organized according to the principle of unity, which is accomplished mainly by means of our consciousness in which any emotion seeking an outlet must be represented. Otherwise we risk creating a conflict, and the work of art, instead of producing a catharsis, would inflict a wound, and the person experiences what Tolstoy when his heart is filled with a vague, incomprehensible emotion of depression, impotence, and confusion. However, this does not mean that the explanation of art kills the trepidation of poetry mentioned by Longinus, for there are two different levels involved. This second element, the element of conservation of an artistic impression, has always been regarded by theoreticians as decisively important for art criticism but, oddly enough, our critics have always ignored it. Criticism has always approached art as if it were a parliamentary speech or a non-aesthetic fact. It considered its task to be the destruction of the effect of art in order to discover the significance of art. Plekhanov was aware that the search for the sociological equivalent of a work of art is only the first half of the task of criticism. â€Å"This means,† he said when discussing Belinskii, â€Å"that evaluation of the idea of a work of art must be followed by an analysis of its artistic merits. Philosophy did not eliminate aesthetics. On the contrary, it paved the way for it and tried to find a solid basis for it. This must also be said about materialistic criticism. In searching for the social equivalent of a given literary phenomenon, this type of criticism betrays its own nature if it does not understand that we cannot confine ourselves to finding this equivalent, and that sociology must not shut the door to aesthetics but, on the contrary, open it wide. The second action of materialistic criticism must be, as was the case with many critic-idealists, the evaluation of the aesthetic merits of the work under investigation †¦ The determination of the sociological equivalent of a given work of literature would be incomplete and therefore imprecise if the critic failed to appraise its artistic merits. In other words, the first action of materialistic criticism not only does not eliminate the need for  the second action, but requires it as a necessary and indispensable complement.† A similar situation arises with the problem of art in education: the two parts or acts cannot exist independently. Until recently, the public approach to art prevailed in our schools as well as in our criticism. The students learned or memorized incorrect sociological formulas concerning many works of art. â€Å"At the present time,† says Gershenzon, â€Å"pupils are beaten with sticks to learn Pushkin, as if they were cattle herded to the w atering place, and given a chemical dissociation of H20 instead of drinking water.† It would be unfair to conclude with Gershenzon that the system of teaching art in the schools is wrong from beginning to end. In the guise of the history of social thought reflected in literature, our students learned false literature and false sociology. Does this mean that it is possible to teach art outside the sociological context and only on the basis of individual tastes, to jump from concept to concept, from the Iliad to Maiakovskii? Eichenwaid seems to believe this, for he claims that it is impossible as well as unnecessary to teach literature in the schools. â€Å"Should one teach literature?† he asks. â€Å"Literature, like the other arts, is optional. It represents an entertainment of the mind. †¦ Is it necessary that students be taught that Tatiana fell in love with Onegin, or that Lermontov was bored, sad, and unable to love forever?† Eichenwald is of the opinion that it is impossible to teach literature and that it should be taken out of the school curriculum because it requires an act of creativity different from all the other subjects taught at school. But he proceeds from a rather squalid aesthetic, and all his weak spots become obvious when we analyze his basic position, â€Å"Read, enjoy, but can we force people to enjoy?† Of course, if â€Å"to read† means â€Å"to enjoy,† then literature cannot be taught and has no place in the schools (although someone once said that the art of enjoyment could also he taught). A school that eliminates lessons in literature is bound to be a bad school. â€Å"At the present time, explanatory reading has as its main purpose the explanation of the content of what is being read. Under such a system, poetry as such is eliminated from the curriculum. For instance, the difference between a fable by Krylov and its rendition in prose is Completely lost.† From the repudiation of such a position, Gershenzon comes to the conclusion: â€Å"Poetry cannot and must not be a compulsory subject of education; it is time that it again become a guest  from paradise on earth, loved by everyone, as was the case in ancient times. Then it will once again become the true teacher of the masses.† The basic idea here is that poetry is a heavenly guest and it must be made to resume the role it played â€Å"in ancient times.† But Gershenzon does not concern himself with the fact that these ancient times are gone forever, and that nothing in our time plays the same role it played then. He ignores this fact because he believes that art is fundamentally different from all the other activities of man. For him, art is a kind of a mystical or spiritual act that cannot be recreated by studying the forces of the. According to him, poetry cannot be studied scientifically.† One of the greatest mistakes of contemporary culture,† he says, â€Å"application of a scientific or, more precisely, a naturalistic method to the study of poetry.† Thus, what contemporary scholars consider to be the only possible way of solving the riddle of art is for Gershenzon the supreme mistake of contemporary culture. Future studies and investigations are likely to show that the i creating a work of art is not a mystical or divine act of our soul, I real an act as all the other movements of our body, only much complex. We have discovered in the course of our study that a creative act that cannot be recreated by means of purely conscious operations. But, by establishing that the most important elements in art are subconscious or creative, do we automatically eliminate any and all conscious moments and forces? The act of artistic creation cannot be taught. This does not mean, however, that the educator cannot cooper ate in forming it or bringing it about. We penetrate the subconscious through the conscious. We can organize the conscious processes in such a way that they generate subconscious processes, and everyone knows that an act of art includes, as a necessary condition, all preceding acts of rational cognizance, understanding, recognition, association, and so forth. It is wrong to assume that the later subconscious processes do not depend on the direction imparted by us to the conscious processes. By organizing our conscious, which leads us toward art, we insure a priori the success or failure of the work of art. Hence Molozhavy correctly states that the act of art is â€Å"the process of our response to the phenomenon, although it may never have reached the stage of action. This process †¦ widens the scope of our personality, endows it with new possibilities, prepares for the completed response to the phenomenon, that is, behavior, and also has educational  value †¦ Potebnia is wrong to treat the artistic image as a condensation of thought. Both thought and image are a condensation either of the conscious with respect to the phenomenon involved or of the psyche, which issued from a series of positions preparatory to the present position. But this gives us no right to confuse these biological elements, these psychological processes, on the basis of the vague argument that both thought and artistic image are creative acts. On the contrary, we must emphasize all the ir individual peculiarities in order to understand each as a part of the whole. The tremendous strength that arouses emotions, inspires the will, fortifies energy, and pushes us to action lies in the concreteness of the artistic image which is in turn based upon the originality of the psychological path leading to it.† These considerations need one substantial correction if we move from the field of general psychology into child psychology. When we determine the influence exerted by art, we must take into account the specific peculiarities facing one who deals with children. Of course this is a separate field, a separate and independent study, because the domain of child art and the response of children to art is completely different from that of adults. However, we shall say a few brief words on the subject and trace a basic line along which child psychology intersects this field. There are remarkable phenomena in the art of children. First, there is the early presence of a special structure required by art, which points to the fact that for the child there exists a psychological kinship between art and play. â€Å"First of all,† says Biihler, â€Å"is the fact that the child very early adopts the correct structure, which is alien to reality but required by the fairy tale, so that he can concentrate on the exploits of the heroes and follow the changing images. It seems to me that he loses this ability during so me period of his development, but it returns to him in later years. †¦Ã¢â‚¬  Apparently art does not perform the same function in a child as it does in an adult. The best example of this is a child’s drawing which in many cases is on the borderline of artistic creativity. The child does not understand that the structure of a line can directly express the moods and trepidations of the heart and soul. The ability to render the expressions of people and animals in different positions and gestures develops very slowly in a child, for various reasons. The principal one is the fundamental fact that a child draws patterns, not events or phenomena. Some claim the opposite, but they  seem to ignore the simple fact that a child’s drawing is not yet art for the child. His art is unique and different from the art of adults, although the two have one very interesting characteristic in common. It is the most important trait in art and we shall mention it in conclusion. Only recently was it noticed that certain absurdities or amusing nonsense which can be found in nursery rhymes by inverting the most commonplace events play a tremendously important role in child art. Most frequently the required or desired absurdity is achieved in a nursery rhyme by assigni ng certain functions of object A to object B, and vice versa. †¦ â€Å"The hermit asked me how many strawberries grow at the bottom of the ocean. I answered him: ‘As many as there are red herrings in the forest.’ To understand this nursery jingle the child must know the truth about life: herrings exist only in the ocean, and strawberries only in the forest. He begins to look for the absurd only when he is absolutely sure of the facts.† We, too, feel that the statement, that this aspect of child art comes very close to play, is true; as a matter of fact, it gives us a good explanation of the role and the significance of art in a child’s life. â€Å"We still do not quite understand the connection which exists between nursery rhymes and child’s play. †¦ When evaluating books for small children, critics frequently forget to apply the criterion of play. Most folk nursery rhymes do not issue from games but are play, a game in themselves: a play of words, a play of rhythms, sounds; †¦ these muddles always maintain some sort of ideal order. There is system in this folly. By dragging a child into a topsy-turvy world, we help his intellect work, because the child becomes interested in creating such a topsy-turvy world for himself in order to become more effectively the master of the laws governing the real world. These absurdities could be dangerous for a child if they screened out the real interrela tionships between ideas and objects. Instead, they push them to the fore, and emphasize them. They enhance (rather than weaken) the child’s perception of reality.† Here, too, we observe the same phenomenon of the dualism of art. In order to perceive art, we must contemplate simultaneously the true situation of things and their deviation from this situation. We can also observe how an effect of art arises from such a contradictory perception. Since absurdities are tools for the child to use in understanding reality, it becomes suddenly clear why the extreme leftists in art criticism come up with a slogan: art as a method  for building life. They say that art is building life because â€Å"reality is forged from the establishment and destruction of contradictions. When they criticize the idea of art as the cognition of life and advance the idea of a dialectic perception of the world through matter, they reach agreement with the psychological laws of art. â€Å"Art is an original, chiefly emotional †¦ dialectic approach to building life.† Now we can envision the role of art in the future. It is hard to guess what forms this unknown life of the future will take, and it is even harder to guess what place art will take in that future life. One thing is clear, however: arising from reality and reaching toward it, art will be determined by the basic order of the future flow of life. â€Å"In the future,† sa ys Friche, â€Å"the role of art is not likely to change substantially from its present role. Socialist society will not be the antithesis of capitalist society, but its organic continuation.† If we regard art as an embellishment or ornament of life, such a viewpoint is admissible. However, it basically contradicts the psychological laws of art. Psychological investigation reveals that art is the supreme center of biological and social individual processes in society, that it is a method for finding an equilibrium between man and his world, in the most critical and important stages of his life. This view of course completely refutes the approach according to which art is an ornament, and thereby leads us to doubt the correctness of the above statement. Since the future has in store not only a rearrangement of mankind according to new principles, not only the organization of new social and economic processes, but also the â€Å"remolding of man,† there seems hardly any doubt that the role of art will also change. It is hard to imagine the role that art will play in this remolding of man. We do not know which existing but dormant forces in our organisms it will draw upon to form the new man. There is no question, however, that art will have a decisive voice in this process. Without new art there can be no new man. The p ossibilities of the future, for art as well as for life, are inscrutable and unpredictable. As Spinoza said, â€Å"That of which the body is capable has not yet been determined.†

Implication of Increasing Premium Rates Essays

Implication of Increasing Premium Rates Essays Implication of Increasing Premium Rates Paper Implication of Increasing Premium Rates Paper Medical malpractice insurance should be a necessity for all healthcare providers such as physicians, medical assistants, nurses, and other medical staffs. This will enable them to be protected from liabilities and lawsuits from considered â€Å"negligent acts† such as mistakes, accidents, and oversights that may cause injuries or harm to the patients. These mistakes are unpredictable despite the skills the medical practitioners have (Rodgers). Medical malpractice may either be failure to diagnose, misdiagnosis, improper treatment or delay in treatment. There are many cases of malpractice such as wrong kidney operation, wrong treatment for flu, or wrong eye operation. Claims other than this have been increasing over the past years. Physicians are able to escape such liabilities through medical malpractice insurance. However, premium rates in medical malpractice insurance have been increasing over the past years. In 2003, the General Accounting Office of the United States released a report on medical malpractice insurance and the factors that have contributed to the increase of premium rates. The study was conducted in order to analyze the problem of physicians regarding the increases of premium rates. Physicians were agonizing that they can no longer afford the malpractice insurance and they would be limiting their services, as a result. On the other hand, some insurers stopped selling malpractice insurance because of little profitability (Medical Malpractice Insurance 2003). GAO found out several factors that contributed to the increase of premium rates such as falling investment income and rising reinsurance costs resulting to the increase of total expenses that other premium covers (Medical Malpractice Insurance 2003). The increasing trend in the premium rates of malpractice insurance began in the mid-1970s until the 1980s because of the many claims causing some insurers to stop in coverage. Also, physician-owned insurance companies replaced other liability carriers whose aim was to earn more profit. The trend severed in the 1980s when premium increased much more. In order to regulate the increasing trend, states passed laws to decrease premium rates (Thorpe, 2004). By the 1990s, increases in premium rates continued in several states such as Pennsylvania. The crisis in the increasing premium rates trend caused some large insurers to close down such as the St. Paul Companies. Additionally, processing claims by patients may take more than two years thus making it hard for insurers to set premiums (Mello, 2006). Physicians in West Virginia rallied against the high premiums which slowed down the New Jersey and caused closing of heath services temporarily. There were also follow up rallies in Connecticut and other states (Thorpe, 2004). Obstetricians, gynecologist and neurosurgeons are greatly affected by the high premium rates causing some practitioners to stop providing healthcare services. Martha Drohobyczer, a nurse midwife, for example, was not able to deliver the baby of her three-year long patient who was about to give birth to her first baby. Drohobyczer cannot afford the newly increased malpractice insurance costing $50,000 a year. Therefore, she would not be able to provide the services that her patients needed (Babula, 2002). In 2003, the physician-owned Medical Insurance Exchange of California (MIEC) ended coverage in Nevada. MIEC has been providing insurance fro physicians in Nevada for 25 years. This move by the MIEC was feared to lead the trend of insurance companies closing down (Babula, 2003). Last March 2007, the Americans for Insurance Reform released a report about the stable losses or the unstable rates of medical malpractice insurance. By 2005, physicians paid $13,000 premium with $5,400 direct losses paid. This means that doctors paid $5,400 annually to people who claimed to be injured plus the amount the insurance companies paid for lawyers (Medical Malpractice Inusrance: Stable Losses/Unstable Rates 2007, 2007). References Babula, J. (2002). Medical Malpractice Crisis: Insurance costs driving doctors away. Retrieved October 19, 2007 from reviewjournal. com/lvrj_home/2002/Jan-23-Wed-2002/news/17929548. html Babula, J. (2003). Another insurance firm set to leave. Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved October 19, 2007 from reviewjournal. com/lvrj_home/2003/Jul-31-Thu 2003/news/21845688. html Medical Malpractice Insurance: Multiple Factors Have Contributed to Increased Premium Rates. (2003). ): United States General Accounting Office. Retrieved October 19, 2007 from gao. gov/new. items/d03702. pdf Medical Malpractice Inusrance: Stable Losses/Unstable Rates 2007. (2007). ): American for Insurance Reform. Retrieved October 19, 2007 from insurance reform. org/StableLosses2007. pdf Mello, M. M. (2006). Understanding Medical Malpractice Insurance: A Primer. Robertwood Johnson Foundation, 1-20. Retrieved October 19, 2007 from rwjf. org/pr/synthesis/reports_and_briefs/pdf/no8_primer. pdf Rodgers, D. Importance of Professional Liability and Malpractice Insurance. Retrieved October 19, 2007, from http://profiles. friendster. com/user. php Thorpe, K. E. (2004). The Medical Malpractice ‘Crisis’: Recent Trends And The Impact Of State Tort Reforms. Health Affairs. Retrieved October 19, 2007 from http://content. healthaffairs. org/cgi/content/full/hlthaff. w4. 20v1/DC1