Mental Healthcare Among West/ Central African Immigrants

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Literature Review Outline

 

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

Course Name and Number

Instructor’s Name

Date

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Task:

Consider, based upon your literature review thus far, what theories have been recurrent.

Describe two theory in your own words, and explain its relationship with the gap in the literature you identified.

 

 

Literature Review Outline

Task One: Themes and Their Relation to the Identified Gap in Literature

Causes of the Barriers to Mental Healthcare Among West/ Central African Immigrants

Analysis of articles highlighted a significant theme: specific factors contribute to the disparities in mental healthcare that immigrants from West and Central Africa face. They include a lack of adequate resources in the regions occupied by immigrants (Novak et al., 2018). Scrutiny shows that the regions where the individuals reside lack adequate mental healthcare facilities and specialists, increasing the chances of these individuals failing to seek adequate mental services when in need. Another significant cause of the disparities is immigration policies (Semprini, 2020). The policies impose stringent restrictions that make it difficult for immigrants to access mental health services. The topic relates to the identified gap in literature because it explains why the immigrants from the West and Central African region lack adequate medical services.

Factors that Make West/ Central African Immigrants Vulnerable to Mental Health Problems

Different articles highlight a significant theme, which is that immigrants are vulnerable to mental health disorders. Their susceptibility to mental challenges is precipitated by specific factors such as the challenges of adapting to the foreign country’s new lifestyle, culture, and way of life (Pannetier et al., 2018). Also, the lack of adequate finances is a significant barrier that increases the vulnerability of this population to a lack of mental healthcare services (Akinsulure-Smith, 2017). Most individuals in this population are poorly educated, an aspect that impedes them from securing lucrative employment opportunities that will ensure they can seamlessly meet all their basic needs, including healthcare services. Language barriers also significantly deter individuals from accessing mental healthcare services (Cook et al., 2017). Immigrants from the west and central African region may not be able to express themselves effectively in English. As a result, they may fail to communicate effectively with mental health specialists, which impedes them from effectively explaining the problems they are facing. Individuals from West and Central Africa are also vulnerable to chronic disorders such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes (Rodriguez et al., 2021). The topic relates to the identified gap because it explains why many immigrants from the west and central Africa have mental health problems; hence they are negatively impacted by the disparity in access to psychiatric health services.

Interventions can Eliminate the Barriers to Mental Healthcare that West and Central African Immigrants Face

An analysis of literature that discusses the barriers that west and central African immigrants face highlights a significant theme that there are interventions that can aid in eliminating the barriers that impede immigrants from the west and central Africa from accessing adequate mental healthcare services. These include sensitizing the community, especially the immigrants from the west and central Africa, about the significance of seeking mental healthcare services when they encounter psychological problems (Derr, 2016). Another significant intervention that can eliminate the barriers that prevent immigrants from west and central Africa from accessing mental healthcare is to increase the accessibility of medical coverage to the community members. ACA has played a vital role in improving access to care in the populace, including mental health services, and reducing its cost (Wayne, 2021). This aspect relates to the identified because it provides possible solutions that can help eliminate the disparity in healthcare access and ensure that those from the community can access the services seamlessly.

 

Task Two: Literature Review Outline

I. Introduction

a. Identification of the gap in access to healthcare services

b. Statistics that prove that the gap exists (Yearby, 2018)

c. Research question: What are the barriers to mental healthcare access experiences by the west and central African immigrants?

II. Causes of the barriers to mental health problems experienced by the west and central African immigrants

a. Lack of adequate resources, including:

1. Mental healthcare facilities (Martinez et al., 2015)

2. Psychiatric specialists

b. Immigration policies

1. Prevent the immigrants from accessing medical coverage (Gaston et al., 2016)

2. They prevent immigrants from visiting healthcare facilities.

III. Factors that make west and central African immigrants vulnerable to barriers that limit access to mental healthcare services

a. Increased incidences of mental health problems in the population due to:

1. The stress of settling in a foreign land, such as

i) Challenges of adapting to a new culture, and way of life (Ayon et al., 2020)

ii) Language barriers

b. Lack of finances to seek mental health services due to low educational backgrounds impedes them from securing well-paying jobs (van der Boor & White, 2020).

IV. Interventions that can eliminate the barriers to accessing mental healthcare services that west and central immigrants face

a. Creating public awareness about the significance of seeking mental healthcare services (Derr, 2016).

b. Increasing access to healthcare insurance such as ACA (Cook et al., 2017)

V. Conclusion

a. Summary of the topics covered in the literature review

b. Recommendations

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Akinsulure-Smith, A. M. (2017). Resilience in the face of adversity: African immigrants’ mental health needs and the American transition. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 15(4), 428-448.

Ayón, C., Santiago, J. R., & Torres, A. S. L. (2020). Latinx undocumented older adults, health needs, and access to healthcare. Journal of immigrant and minority health, 22(5), 996-1009.

Cook, B. L., Trinh, N. H., Li, Z., Hou, S. S. Y., & Progovac, A. M. (2017). Trends in racial-ethnic disparities in access to mental health care, 2004–2012. Psychiatric Services, 68(1), 9-16.

Derr A. S. (2016). Mental Health Service Use Among Immigrants in the United States: A Systematic Review. Psychiatric services (Washington, D.C.), 67(3), 265–274. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.201500004

Diaz, E., Ortiz-Barreda, G., Ben-Shlomo, Y., Holdsworth, M., Salami, B., Rammohan, A., Chung, R. Y., Padmadas, S. S., Krafft, T. (2017). Systematic review and meta-analyses interventions to improve immigrant health. A scoping review. European Journal of Public Health, 27(3), 433–439. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckx001

Gaston, G. B., Earl, T. R., Nisanci, A., & Glomb, B. (2016). Perception of mental health services among Black Americans. Social Work in Mental Health, 14(6), 676-695. https://doi.org/10.1080/15332985.2015.1137257

Martinez, O., Wu, E., Sandfort, T., Dodge, B., Carballo-Dieguez, A., Pinto, R., Rhodes, S. D., Moya, E., Chavez-Baray, S. (2015). Evaluating the impact of immigration policies on health status among undocumented immigrants: A systematic review. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 17(3), 947–970. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-013-9968-4

Novak, P., Anderson, A. C., & Chen, J. (2018). Changes in health insurance coverage and barriers to health care access among individuals with serious psychological distress following the Affordable Care Act. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 45(6), 924-932.

Pannetier, J., Lert, F., Jauffret Roustide, M., & du Loû, A. D. (2017). Mental health of sub-Saharan African migrants: The gendered role of migration paths and transnational ties. SSM – population health, 3, 549–557. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2017.06.003

Rodriguez, D. X., Hill, J., & McDaniel, P. N. (2021). A Scoping Review of Literature About Mental Health and Well-Being Among Immigrant Communities in the United States. Health promotion practice, 22(2), 181–192. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524839920942511

Semprini, J. (2020), “A systematic review on the health of African immigrants in the United States: synthesizing recommendations for future research,” International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, Vol. 16 No. 2, pp. 121-136. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMHSC-02-2019-0021

van der Boor, C. F., & White, R. (2020). Barriers to accessing and negotiating mental health services in asylum-seeking and refugee populations: the application of the candidacy framework. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 22(1), 156-174.

Wayne J., Riley, (2021). Health disparities: Gaps in access, quality, and affordability of medical care. American clinical and climatological association. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3540621/

Yearby, R. (2018). Racial disparities in health status and access to healthcare: the continuation of inequality in the United States due to structural racism. American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 77(3-4), 1113-1152.

Component of building positive relationships

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Explain your vision of the ideal learning environment for the age and subject you intend to teach in a 2 page original paper. You must answer the questions below, using a 12 point font and double spaced; answers written under the question; cite relevant sources See example below and see attached rubric for completing these 3 question

 

1. How do you create and maintain a mutually respectful and collaborative class of actively engaged learners? Include how it responds to student needs and incorporates student strengths and personal experiences. You must use research to support your selection of these strategies and identify and explain the research.

 

 

2. What strategies will you use to build relationships with students? Use research to support your selection of these strategies and identify and explain the research.

 

 

3. How will you physically organize your classroom to ensure flexibility and accommodate the learning needs of all students including those with disabilities? Consider things such as the three zones of proximity and furniture.

 

 

Example:

 

1. How do you create and maintain a mutually respectful and collaborative class of actively engaged learners? Include how it responds to student needs and incorporates student strengths and personal experiences. You must support your selection of these strategies and identify and explain the research.

 

In order to create and maintain a mutually respectful and collaborative class of actively engaged learners, a teacher must create good relationships with students, and create and clearly communicate an ethos that sustains participation and cooperation to reach a common goal. That goal is mastery of the content. Although what exactly constitutes ethos in the classroom is debated (Donnelly 2000; Solvason 2005) it is agreed that developing and maintaining a classroom ethos is important in promoting student learning and achieving quality education (McLaughlin 2005). This foundation supports a teacher to create an environment where all students feel safe, valued, and ready to learn in collaboration with their teacher and their classmates. According to Solvason (2005) ethos is not something you can touch, but rather “the feeling” of the classroom.” The ethos of the classroom is the philosophy that guides the creation of classroom management strategies, classroom organization and expectations for student behavior. Teacher expectations are also a key part of the classroom management strategy that forms an ideal learning environment. A teacher must believe that all his students can achieve mastery of the objectives. Students tend to confirm teacher expectations (Brophy & Good 1974), so believing and modeling to students that mastery of the objectives is within all students’ grasps is essential to overall student success. It is also essential that the teacher have high expectations of themselves as well. “If a teacher does not believe in his job, does not enjoy the learning he is trying to transmit, the student will sense this and derive the entirely rational conclusion that the particular subject is not worth mastering” (Csikszentmihalyi 1997). Clear Communication is also a pillar of a successful classroom. Teachers must be able to translate jargon filled objectives into student-friendly language. In tandem with high expectations, clearly communicated behavioral expectations are essential to classroom management. Effective teachers use classroom management not to control student behavior, but to influence and direct it in a constructive manner to set the stage for instruction (McLeod, Fisher, & Hoover, 2003). Consistent routines also lend to effective student learning and the minimization of distraction. The teacher’s expectation should be that students enter the classroom ready to learn. A good way to implement this is to have daily bell work. Bell work helps to untether the student’s mind from what is going on outside the classroom and settle their thinking on the day’s learning objective. The teacher then transitions to instruction by referencing the contents of the bell work and links it to the lesson.

 

2. What strategies will you use to build relationships with students? Use research to support your selection of these strategies and identify and explain the research.

 

Building positive relationships with students and parents is a good place to start an effective classroom management strategy. It is important that the teacher get to know each student and that the students get to know the teacher. Teachers may be tempted to go straight into content when the school year starts but taking the time to create relationships and community with students pays dividends later in the year. Authenticity is an essential component of building positive relationships and teachers must come across as genuine and caring to parents and students. This requires the teacher to be passionate, knowledgeable, self-aware, balanced and fair, and consistent. (De Bruyckere and Kirschner 2016). These characteristics should be modeled by the teacher, and this helps to create a foundation of the mutual respect that will make the classroom successful. In a participatory, collaborative classroom, questioning is essential, and students must feel safe to ask questions and give answers that may be incorrect without fear of intimidation. Teachers should encourage and model curiosity about the subject matter, thus stimulating students’ innate curiosity and making it possible for students to generate good questions. The teacher can provide a powerful model by providing examples of ways that students can support one another. Each student brings her own personal experience to the class and this enriches everyone. Teachers must also recognize and praise students’ use of positive collaborative communication (Bridges, 1995).

 

3. How will you physically organize your classroom to ensure flexibility and accommodate the learning needs of all students including those with disabilities? Consider things such as the three zones of proximity and furniture.

 

The aspects of classroom organization that are utilized are those that focus on the physical environment. A collaborative classroom consists of tables or individual flat-top desks that can be arranged in groups of about four students. The classroom is organized such that students know how to access items like calculators, pencil sharpeners and mini-whiteboards. It may take some time for students to learn how to access all the materials in the classroom, but – in time – consistent classroom organization will lend to the optimization of student learning and reduce distractions. It is almost impossible for students to learn in a chaotic, poorly managed classroom (Wang, Haertel, and Walberg, 1993). Fred Jones (2007) proposes arranging tables such that an interior loop is created. This minimizes the number of green zones that are farther from the teacher, allowing more flexibility in seating students who are more likely to go off task. The most basic factor that governs the likelihood of student misbehavior is their physical distance from the teacher. By utilizing both proximity and movement, teachers can optimize the positive impact that their presence has on students. Simply by moving in the direction of burgeoning misbehavior, a teacher can quickly reduce the likelihood of escalation and redirect student attention to the task at hand. Students with special needs face many challenges when entering the classroom. School furniture is often inadequate for providing the physical support students need to learn. For proper learning to occur, high and low seating options should be made available with some desks in a bar style, higher up off the floor and others at the standard level. Placing high desks in the back of the classroom prevents students who are sitting there from having to look over and around the students sitting closer to the front. Teachers cannot always control the sizes of the classroom or the size of the class. Classrooms should always make space by the door for the entry of wheelchairs and seats closes to the door made available to students who use wheelchairs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Explain how your behavior management plan supports your vision for the ideal learning environment.

Stress and Cognitive Functions

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Discussion 1: Stress and Cognitive Functions

Consider the work of an air traffic controller or an emergency room physician. Both jobs require alertness, quick thinking, and sound judgment in the making of a constant stream of life-or-death decisions. This process occurs with every worker’s shift, day after day. Imagine the impact of such an ongoing responsibility on cognitive functioning.

Stress has profound effects on cognitive functions, such as decision making, occasionally altering the brain in surprising ways. Stress symptoms may lead to prominent clinical characteristics, which often go beyond anxiety and fear. Stress hormones can affect neurotransmitter systems in the brain, causing physical changes in some cases. The hippocampus, for example, can atrophy as a result of chronic stress.

For this Discussion, consider effects of stress on cognitive functions. Then think about a time when stress affected your cognitive functions.

With these thoughts in mind:

By Day 3

Post a brief explanation of how stress affects cognitive functions, including the roles of the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex. Then provide examples of situations when stress affected your attention, memory, problem solving, or decision making. Finally, explain how you might mitigate the effects of stress on cognitive functions.

Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the Learning Resources.

Effects of mood on memory

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Discussion 2: Attentional and Interpretive Bias

Think back to the period of time following the attacks on New York’s World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. If you happened to travel by airplane during that time, did you experience a higher degree of anxiety than you might normally have? If you did not fly during that period, imagine how flying might have felt in terms of anxiety levels.

How might anxiety affect the way that you and your fellow passengers view one another within the context of a situation involving such attacks? Do you think that you would pay more attention to other travelers? Might certain behaviors seem more suspicious? These are examples of attentional and interpretive bias. These examples demonstrate how mood can affect memory and learning.

For this Discussion, consider additional examples of effects of mood on memory and learning. Consider how anxiety or depression can influence attentional and interpretive bias.

With these thoughts in mind:

By Day 4

Post two ways mood might affect memory and learning and explain how. Explain one way that anxiety or depression can influence attentional and interpretive bias. Provide examples to support your response. Justify your response using the Learning Resources and current literature.

Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the Learning Resources.

Repeated Measures of Factorial Design

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My research proposal is Aggression in Children. I want to explore the impact that violence and aggression have on children. Aggression can be feelings of antipathy or anger resulting in violent or hostile behavior or preparedness to confront or attack. Aggression in children may take numerous forms, such as kicking, biting, or even hitting.

 

Testing the Hypothesis

Under this study, the methods used to test the hypothesis will be a repeated measures factorial design, a mixed design, and a single-subject design. Both dependent and independent variables will be present in the research (Masud et al., 2019). The dependent variable will be how frequently the children have committed a string of violent acts. On the other side, the independent variables will be aggressive acts such as making some children dislike other children, striking other children, and pushing others (Puiu et al., 2018).

 

Repeated Measures of Factorial Design

A repeated measure of factorial design is a quantitative method to explore how different variables relate to one variable for a similar sample (Masud et al., 2019). The method is preferred since it examines various independent variables yet other methods have singular dependent or independent variables.

 

Mixed Design

A mixed design is a study method that combines the features of within-subjects design and between-subject design. In this method, the researcher studies the probable variances between two or more distinct groups of entrants and also evaluates changes in the separate members of all groups over time (Puiu et al., 2018).

 

Single-Subject Design

A Single Subject Design is a research methodology type characterized by constant evaluation of a certain phenomenon over a certain period (Masud et al., 2019). This method repeatedly quantifies the dependent variable over time and alters the conditions (Puiu et al., 2018).

 

Preferred Method of Study

The preferred method will be the Single-Subject Design. It is because it pays attention to independent performance, which may be concealed by group research. Also, the method concentrates on the big effects, avoiding practical and ethical issues while forming control groups and permitting significant design flexibility (Puiu et al., 2018).

 

 

References

Masud, H., Ahmad, M. S., Cho, K. W., & Fakhr, Z. (2019, May 17). Parenting styles and aggression among young adolescents: A systematic review of literature – community mental health journal. SpringerLink. Retrieved July 26, 2022, from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10597-019-00400-0

Puiu, A. A., Wudarczyk, O., Goerlich, K. S., Votinov, M., Herpertz-Dahlmann, B., Turetsky, B., & Konrad, K. (2018, April 22). Impulsive aggression and response inhibition in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and disruptive behavioral disorders: Findings from a systematic review. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews. Retrieved July 26, 2022, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763418300162

Stories and diversity of experiences

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With Unit 5, we enter the wrap-up phase of this course. And we end with reflecting on your next step, by designing for it.  First, watch this  3 1/2 min TED video on  8 Secrets of
Success

Since we are people with multiple stories and diversity of experiences, each of us will seek out different learning experiences to help us succeed. And, since most of you are interested in either pursuing your career as a therapist or furthering your course of study to become a psychologist, one major area comes to mind: what interaction brings out the best learner (or one of those success factors) in you!

Continuing the focus on your professional development, this discussion is a reflective post to help you prepare for future interactions with supervisors or current interactions with your professors. I want you to  reflect on how you learn, as you plan to enter clinical training (or preparing for PhD) and/or are in a clinical context.

Respond to the following questions, based on your reflections and expectations:

– Based on your previous learning and/or work experiences, who would make an ideal clinical supervisor for you (and/or research supervisor for those of you who want to do PhD)? Describe his/her guidance and feedback style that would match your style of learning. (If you use terms such as critical, helpful, challenge me etc, describe what you mean by these terms since they mean different things to different people. Please take the time to give this thought).

– Assume you are shopping for a supervisor, what questions would you ask him/her/them, to learn about them, their style and/or their expectations? Don’t forget to visit the readings on the following which might give you a clue:

Supervision
Academia
Research

Studies for Ethical Decision Making

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Case Study: Handling Disparate Information

Read Case 7: Handling Disparate Information for Evaluating Trainees located in Appendix A: Case Studies for Ethical Decision Making, in your textbook. Thoroughly answer each of the questions below regarding Case 7: Handling Disparate Information for Evaluating Trainees in a total of 350-500 words. Use one to two scholarly resources to support your answers. Use in-text citations when appropriate, according to APA formatting.

1. Why is this an ethical dilemma? Which APA Ethical Principles help frame the nature of the dilemma?

2. How are APA Ethical Standards 1.08, 3.04, 3.05, 3.09, 7.04, 7.05, and 7.06 and the Hot Topics “Ethical Supervision of Trainees in Professional Psychology Programs” (Chapter 10) and “Multicultural Ethical Competence” (Chapter 5) relevant to this case? Which other standards might apply?

3. What are Dr. Vaji’s ethical alternatives for resolving this dilemma? Which alternative best reflects the Ethics Code aspirational principles and enforceable standards, legal standards, and obligations to stakeholders? Can you identify the ethical theory (discussed in Chapter 3) guiding your decision?

4. What steps should Dr. Vaji take to implement his decision and monitor its effect?

While APA style is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected, and documentation of sources should be presented using APA formatting guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success enter.

You are not required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite.

Case 7. Handling Disparate Information for Evaluating TraineesRashid Vaji, PhD, a member of the school psychology faculty at a midsize university, serves as a faculty supervisor for students assigned to externships in schools. The department has formalized a supervision and evaluation system for the extern program. Students have weekly individual meetings with the faculty supervisor and biweekly meetings with the on-site supervisor. The on-site supervisor writes a midyear (December) and end of academic year (May) evaluation of each student. The site evaluations are sent to Dr. Vaji, and he provides feedback based on the site and his own supervisory evaluation to each student. The final grade (fail, low pass, pass, high pass) is the responsibility of Dr. Vaji.Dr. Vaji also teaches the spring semester graduate class Health Disparities in Mental Health. One of the course requirements is for students to write weekly thought papers, in which they take the perspective of therapy clients from different ethnic groups in reaction to specific session topics. Leo Watson, a second-year graduate student, is one of Dr. Vaji’s externship supervisees. He is also enrolled in the Health Disparities course. Leo’s thought papers often present ethnic-minority adolescents as prone to violence and unable to grasp the insights offered by school psychologists. In a classroom role-playing exercise, Leo plays an ethnic-minority student client as slumping in his chair, not understanding the psychologist, and giving angry retorts. In written comments on these thought papers and class feedback, Dr. Vaji encourages Leo to incorporate more of the readings on racial/ethnic discrimination and multicultural competence into his papers and to provide more complex perspectives on clients.One day during his office hours, three students from the class come to Dr. Vaji’s office to complain about Leo’s behavior outside the classroom. They describe incidents in which Leo uses derogatory ethnic labels to describe his externship clients and brags about “putting one over” on his site supervisors by describing these clients in “glowing” terms just to satisfy his supervisors’ “stupid do-good” attitudes. They also report an incident at a local bar at which Leo was seen harassing an African American waitress, including by using racial slurs.After the students have left his office, Dr. Vaji reviews his midyear evaluation and supervision notes on Leo and the midyear on-site supervisor’s report. In his own evaluation report, Dr. Vaji had written, “Leo often articulates a strong sense of duty to help his ethnic minority students overcome past discrimination but needs additional growth and supervision in applying a multicultural perspective to his clinical work.” The on-site supervisor’s evaluation states thatLeo has a wonderful attitude toward his student clients. . . . Unfortunately, evaluation of his multicultural treatment skills is limited because Leo has had fewer cases to discuss than some of his peers, since a larger than usual number of ethnic minority clients have stopped coming to their sessions with him.It is the middle of the spring semester, and Dr. Vaji still has approximately 6 weeks of supervision left with Leo. The students’ complaints about Leo are consistent with what Dr. Vaji has observed in Leo’s class papers and role-playing exercises. However, these complaints are very different from Leo’s presentation during on-site supervision. If Leo has been intentionally deceiving both supervisors, then he may be more ineffective or harmful as a therapist to his current clients than either supervisor has realized. In addition, purposeful attempts to deceive the supervisors might indicate a personality disorder or lack of integrity that, if left unaddressed, might be harmful to adolescent clients in the future.

Ethical Dilemma

Dr. Vaji would like to meet with Leo to discuss, at a minimum, ways to retain adolescent clients and to improve his multicultural treatment skills. He does not know to what extent his conversation with Leo and final supervisory report should be influenced by the information provided by the other graduate students.

Conviction for intimate partner violence

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Case 4. Research on Intimate Partner Violence and the Duty to ProtectDr. Daniela Yeung, a health psychologist, has been conducting a federally funded ethnographic study of couples in which the male partner has been paroled following conviction and imprisonment for intimate partner violence (IPV). Over the course of a year, she has had individual monthly interviews with 25 couples while one partner was in jail and following their release. Aiden is a 35-year-old male parolee convicted of seriously injuring his wife. He and his wife, Maya, have been interviewed by Dr. Yeung on eight occasions. The interviews have covered a range of personal topics including Aiden’s problem drinking, which is marked by blackouts and threatening phone calls made to his wife when he becomes drunk, usually in the evening. To her knowledge, Aiden has never followed through on these threats. Dr. Yeung has the impression both Aiden and Maya feel a sense of social support when discussing their life with Dr. Yeung. One evening Dr. Yeung checks her answering machine and finds a message from Aiden. His words are slurred and angry: “Now that you know the truth about what I am you know that there is nothing you can do to help the evil inside me. The bottle is my savior and I will end this with them tonight.” She calls both Aiden’s and Maya’s cell phone numbers, but no one answers.

Ethical DilemmaDr. Yeung has Aiden’s address, and after 2 hours, she is considering whether or not to contact emergency services to suggest that law enforcement officers go to Aiden’s home or to the homes of his parents and girlfriend.

key concepts of motivation theories

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Week 10: Motivation

Think about what motivates you to complete daily tasks and reach life-long goals. Your motives for tasks such as taking out the trash or paying your taxes are probably very different from those related to securing your “dream job” or fulfilling a childhood dream of learning to play the piano. For example, you might be motivated to pay taxes due to fear of being audited, fined, or imprisoned. Conversely, you might be motivated to secure your “dream job” because you believe it will give you a greater purpose in life or because it comes with a higher salary. As illustrated in these examples, motivation can be extrinsic, arising to avoid punishment or gain a reward, or intrinsic, arising from genuine interest in an activity or the pursuit of personal fulfillment. This week, you will explore different theories and types of motivation and consider your own motivations for pursuing a graduate degree. You will also submit your Final Project, which is due on Day 7 of this week. In addition, you will continue to populate the Psychology Theories Template, which is due at the end of Week 11.

Learning Objectives

Students will:
  • Analyze motivational factors behind human actions and behaviors
  • Evaluate key concepts of motivation theories
  • Evaluate theories of psychology

 

Describe motivational factors that led you to enroll at Walden and that keep you enrolled. Then explain how these motivational factors might change as you progress from your first days at Walden to your first or second year. Finally, identify at least one intrinsic and one extrinsic motivation that could help keep you motivated to complete your degree. Be sure to address what role culture plays in your motivation to complete your degree,

 

Required Readings

Brown, D. L., Rosnick, C. B., & Segrist, D. J. (2017). Internalized racial oppression and higher education values. Journal of Black Psychology, 43(4), 358–380. doi:10.1177/0095798416641865

D’Souza, J., & Guerin, M. (2016). The universal significance of Maslow’s concept of self-actualization. Humanistic Psychologist, 44(2), 210–214. doi:10.1037/hum0000027

Karaman, M. A., & Watson, J. C. (2017). Examining associations among achievement motivation, locus of control, academic stress, and life satisfaction: A comparison of US and international undergraduate students. Personality and Individual Differences, 111, 106–110.

Kumar, R. (2016). Motivation and culture. In H. L. Miller (Ed.), The SAGE encyclopedia of theory in psychology (pp. 573–576). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications

Nguyen, T. (2016). Intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation. In H. L. Miller (Ed.), The SAGE encyclopedia of theory in psychology (pp. 475-478). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L., (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic definitions and new directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, 54–67. doi:10.1006/ceps.1999.1020

Document: Final Project Overview (PDF)

Document: Psychology Theories Template (Excel Spreadsheet)

Optional Resources

Moss, D. (2001). The roots and genealogy of humanistic psychology. In K. J. SchneiderJ. F. Bugental & J. F. Pierson The handbook of humanistic psychology: Leading edges in theory, research, and practice (pp. 5-20). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

 

Evaluation of intentions and results

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Famine, Affluence, and Morality by Peter Singer

1. What historical situation does Singer’s essay address?  What is he arguing should be done?

2. What two assumptions is Singer making?  What are the two implications of his second assumption?

3. What is a supererogatory act, and why does Singer mention this moral category?

4. What two objections to his position does Singer anticipate?

5. What role does Singer think philosophers can and should play in public affairs?

 

A Kantian Approach to Famine Relief by Onora O’Neill

1. What is the formula of the end in itself?

2. What is the difference between treating a person as a means and treating a person as a mere means? Construct a simple example that illustrates the difference.

3. Explain the difference between the requirements of justice and beneficence in Kantian ethics.

4. Discuss some of the specific requirements that Kantian duties of justice place on us in times of famine.  Explain why these requirements are clearer in the cases of those who live with or near famine than in the cases of those who live far from famine.

5. Why does a Kantian give famine relief “high standing” among our duties of beneficence?

6. What is the difference between Kantian theory and utilitarian theory regarding the evaluation of intentions and results?

7. Contrast utilitarian and Kantian views about the value of human life. Construct an example that illustrates the difference.

8. Contrast O’Neill’s views on famine relief with those of Peter Singer.  How do the differences reflect the differences in their respective ethical theories?