According to the Holmes Rache Inventory, I received a score of 174 which places me in the category of people who have a 50% of having a mental breakdown in the next 2 years. This clearly shows that I am considered quite a stressful person which I can agree with. I stress about things quite easily and sometimes stress about the smallest things I shouldn’t. The biggest stress I have come across in my life is the death of two of my close family members which have had a huge affect on me and my family. I think because the death of a close family member has such a high rating, that this is why my score is so high, along with other things. The things I usually stress about the most is university work and also being on time for events etc and keeping up to date with work that needs to be completed. I try to combat this stress by talking to people, especially my mum, because she calms me down and helps me in any way she can. I also like tidying up when I am stressed because a clean and clear environment allows me to work as well as I can.
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At risk behaviours- ‘The Glasgow effect’
The ‘Glasgow effect’ basically talks about the unexplained link between poor health and the low life expectancy of people living in Glasgow. This compares to those who live in the rest of Great Britain and Europe. Despite, lower income levels are usually associated with poor health and a shorter life expectancy, it has been proven that poverty alone doesn’t appear to be the cause of the health issues in Glasgow. Other cities which are equally as deprived are: Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham, which have higher life expectancies, and the top 10% of affluent areas of Glasgow have a lower life expectancy than the same group in other cities. There have been suggestions as to why this is and there are many reasons, which include: vitamin D deficiency and the cold winters Glasgow receives.
Part of Scottish people’s unhealthy diets is the fact we are renouned for deep fried food, excessive drinking and fatty foods. Fatty foods have a huge influence on Scottish people because everywhere you go there is a chip shop or takeaway right around the corner and this can become a habit. This can be said for alcohol and the fact that a huge part of Scottish culture is drinking and the idea that we drink to get drunk, and to get drunk, it consists of consuming an unhealthy amount of alcohol. We consider it the norm to drink as much as we do from those around us. This can have a detrimental effect on our health.
To what extent are Scottish people healthy?
I personally don’t think that there is a definite answer to this question because there are people in Scotland who live a healthy lifestyle and eat healthy, however there are those who don’t follow a healthy lifestyle and there are a number of reasons for this.
Scotland may be considered to be healthy as mortality rate trends are decreasing. For example, the death rates for coronary heart disease has fallen by 45% and the death rates for cancer has decreased by 10% (17% for males and 5% for females). This highlights that there is something positive about the way Scottish people are living their lives.
However, the alcohol-related death rate has increased for both males and females. This shows that because of our huge drinking culture, no one has really considered decreasing the consumption of alcohol in their lifestyle and diets.
Society and Lifestyles ePDP blog
During the inclusion and equality input, in week 3 and 4, was interesting. We discussed what inclusion and equality means, and why they are important in today’s society. I found this interesting to talk about because equality and inclusion is an ongoing subject of discussion in the media and in every day life. Although inequality and exclusion used to be considerably worse in the 1960s, for example, it has improved and moved on since then but not by much. I think it is quite a topical subject and has been since before the 1960s. I find this topic interesting but also frustrating that in today’s society, people are still discrimated against due to the colour of their skin, which religion they believe in and even their gender and sexual orientation. We also talked about the equality act which was introduced in 2010. This moved onto Allport’s Scale of Prejudice and Discrimination which includes: antiloctuion. this is the act of making jokes and insensitive remarks about another group; expressing opinions that reflect negative stereotypes and negative images based on preconceived judgements rather than facts. The second one is avoidance: actively ignoring specific individuals and groups; isolating; excluding. The third one is discrimination: denying equal access to opportunities , goods and services. Next is physical attack: persecution; assault; vandalism; hate crime. And last is extermination, which is genocide and ethic cleansing.
In the next input, we went into detail about disability and how people with a disability aren’t included as they should be in society. we discussed how no matter what capabilities people have, we should all be treated fairly and equally. This includes people in society and in workplaces to change their facilities so people who are in wheelchairs etc are able to access the facilities as other people can.
Laura Tennent ePDP UWS
eJournal- reflective work for 16th of January.
As a result of our first lecture, of the society and lifestyle module, I have now understood religion from a different perspective. Having done higher Religious education in high school, I understand and know a fair amount about religion and how religions differ between one another. However, during this lecture, religion was taken from a completely different angle which was interesting.
I learned about the different theorists in religion. For example, Emile Durkheim, who was French and how he believes that religion has the ability to unite people together and can allow them to form a collective group. Due to this being new information, I am still not 100% sure on how to use this in an essay but I will practice and read more notes in order for me to consolidate this learning.
I also discovered that religion is divided into three separate parts: established religion, sects and cults. During this part of the lecture, we were shown a video about an awful mass suicide committed by a cult which was about a man called Jim Jones who created this cult. This helped me to understand this a bit better but I still feel I need to read over some notes from this lecture to fully understand it, in order to do well in the final exam.
I feel like I am struggling to understand some concepts, for example, functionalism, and how to incorporate this into an essay. I will continue to read over notes and materials from the lecture to help me understand it better.
Reflections on Placement
I thoroughly enjoyed my placement and being in the classroom environment. I was told before I went out into placement, that this will allow me to determine if this is the career I want to pursue. And this experience definitely allowed me to realise that this is what I want to do.
A strength I felt I had was the use of communication through facial expressions and hand gestures. During a maths lesson, the primary 3 teacher I was working with allowed me take a same group of pupil who required extra support with their tasks. They were doing a lesson on place value and adding. I was able to use hand gestures to help the children determine which column they were looking at when doing addition with numbers from 100 and which way the number was moving, for example, they had questions that asked “what is 100 more than 567” so I would use hand gestures to help them understand that the hundreds column is moving up. This method was effective for these children as they could apply it to other questions which were more difficult.
My use of facial expressions was effective because whenever the children got an answer correct or were on the right track, I was able to use positive facial expressions and nodding my head, so they understood they were correct and to keep doing what they were doing.
However, a weakness I have identified is that I should try not to be so shy in new environments and situations. I was very nervous at first because it was the first time being in the classrooms with all the children and having a responsibility of taking a small group for a maths lesson. This also feeds into my non-verbal communication and my use of body language as when I am nervous, I tend to shut my body off.
In order to learn how to develop and improve my body language, I am going to practise being more open and confident so I don’t feel the need to close off my body as it gives a negative impression. Also, I will try and find relevant texts which can help me improve my body language.
