Suchergebnisse

There is limited information concerning the experiences and career decision-making processes of male sex workers in South Korea. The aim of this study was to understand the motivations, career decisions, and decision-making processes of a group of male university students and graduates who decided to join the sex work profession in South Korea as part of their career development. Qualitative research design and snowball strategies were employed in 2021 with nine male sex workers. Interview sessions, online focus group activity, remarkable items sharing, and member-checking interview sessions were undertaken to collect rich stories and promote understanding of male sex workers who are completing or have completed their bachelor's degrees in South Korea. Based on the social cognitive career and motivation theory, three main themes were highlighted: (1) financial consideration, (2) personal interest in sexual activities, and (3) limited career opportunities for the younger generation. The findings illustrate the motivations of a group of educated male sex workers and the social issues for sex workers in South Korea. Government bodies, policymakers, and non-profit organizations may use this study as a reference for policy development and human resources schemes.

On 24th May 2019, the same-sex marriage law took effect, which allowed same-sex couples to marry in Taiwan. About two years after the same-sex marriage law took effect in the community, only a few studies focused on the stress, challenges, discrimination, and sense-making processes of sexual minorities in Taiwan, particularly in the rural communities. Based on the social stigma theory and case study methodology, the researcher collected qualitative data from 16 gay university students who are currently enrolled at one of the Taiwanese universities in rural communities. The results indicated that support of the university administrators, support in the classroom environments, and support in dormitories and roommates were the main findings. The results of this study would fill the research and practical gaps in the fields of same-sex marriage, LGBT rights, and sexual minorities, for the government leaders, non-profit organisations, school administrators, and scholars in the Taiwanese environment.

Received: 21 April 2022 / Accepted: 26 June 2022 / Published: 5 July 2022

International university students face challenges due to the sociocultural differences in the host country. However, only a few studies focused on the issues for Chinese international university students in South Korea. This study aimed to understand the experiences of Chinese international university students in a South Korean university majoring in public health and social care. The following questions guided the current study, how do public health and social care Chinese international students describe their academic and living experiences in South Korea in terms of the Sociocultural and Psychological Racism? With the qualitative inquiry, 50 participants with 100 interview sessions and 12 focus group activities were invited. The results indicated that university experiences due to nationality, social experiences due to nationality, and language learning experiences were the three main themes. University departments should read the students' comments in this study and take into account the results of this research to reform and improve the university experience of all international students. Also, government agencies may reform their current plans for international students and foreigners in the community.

Received: 28 November 2021 / Accepted: 2 February 2022 / Published: 5 March 2022

Same-sex marriage and family counselors usually do not have enough experience and training background to help same-sex couples with marriage and family issues. Some counselors may have a personal bias toward same-sex couples due to the absence of same-sex couples and families' background. Marriage and family counselors provide counseling services to their clients with marriage and family problems and conflicts, resulting in a positive recovery negotiation. The purpose of this study was to understand and investigate the attitudes of marriage and family counselors regarding same-sex couples and families, an area ignored in mainstream marriage and family counseling. Based on 300 surveys and 38 interviews from marriage and family counselors in the United States, the researcher categorized that more than half of the participants expressed negative attitudes against same-sex couples and families, due to cheating, unsafe sexual activities, and domestic violence. Some counselors refused to provide counseling services to same-sex couples and families due to misunderstanding and prejudice. The results suggested that additional in-service professional developments and curriculum reforms are essential to promoting multicultural family structure.

Received: 13 September 2021 / Accepted: 25 November 2021 / Published: 3 January 2022

The engineering profession is traditionally male-dominated. Female engineers only occupy a small portion of positions in the profession, particularly upper management and educators' positions. This study explores the motivations and career perspectives of female engineers and engineering educators' intentions of joining the engineering field as female professionals. Based on social cognitive career and motivation theory, the current study was guided by two research questions, why do female professionals want to join the engineering industry as engineers and engineering educators, particularly after completing their PhD degrees? What are their motivations, and how do female professionals describe their experiences, career decision-making processes, and problems as women in the engineering industry, as engineers and engineering educators? With the interview sessions and focus group activity, eight female engineering PhD students were invited. The finding indicated that academic interests and interests in career development were the main influences. The results of this study may provide recommendations to female students, university leadership, department heads, lecturer, government leaders, and policymakers to reform and polish the curriculum plans, human resources strategies, and gendered schemes for female engineers and engineering educators.

Technology has become one of the most important elements in human society in the 21st century. Digital technology and technology education are some of the popular applications and topics in the current education system. This study aims to understand the application of the Visual-Only Video Teaching Strategy (Dos Santos, 2019) and the feedback of the Visual-Only Video Teaching Strategy from the users (i.e. teachers) at one of the secondary schools in Western Australia. Two research questions guided this study, 1) How can technology and Visual-Only Video Teaching Strategy help teachers to increase the learning motivation of liberal arts and foreign language students? 2) How can teachers merge technology and the Visual-Only Video Teaching Strategy into their classroom environments after the COVID-19 pandemic? Based on the qualitative data from the teachers, three themes were categorised, including 1) Active Learning Behaviours and Feedbacks from the Students, 2) Localised Images, Materials, and Videos Encouraged the Cognitive Learning Growth, 3) Beyond the Textbook: Able to Answer the Questions based on the Visual Videos and Materials. The outcomes of this study will contribute to the following: school leaders, teachers, department heads, and government leaders may take this study as the blueprint to upgrade digital technology and technology education, and encourage teachers to design their visual-only videos in their classroom environments.

Luis Miguel Dos Santos Endicott College, Woosong University, Daejeon, South KoreaCorrespondence: Luis Miguel Dos Santos 196-5 Jayang Dong, Daejeon, 34514, South KoreaTel +82 10-3066-7818Email luismigueldossantos@yahoo.comPurpose: This study aims to understand the motivations of academic voyage and post-graduation career decisions of occupational therapy international students in Australia. The following two research questions guided this study: why do international students choose to study in Australia instead of ones in their own countries? And why do international students choose to study occupational therapy program(s) in Australia instead of ones in their own countries?Patients and Methods: A qualitative design with phenomenology was employed to recruit 20 participants for the data collection procedures, including interview sessions, focus group activity, and member checking interview. The participants were studying one of the accredited occupational therapy programs in Australia as international students.Results: Six themes were yielded. All participants expressed that due to the excellent education, reasonable tuition fees and living standard, and the positive career opportunities, almost all expressed their positive experiences of their Australian voyage as international students and tended to stay in Australia after they gained the registration career development. More importantly, the notions of contribution to Australian communities are captured as many considered Australia as an important place in their lives.Conclusion: University leaders may wish to take action in upgrading their international students' services, particularly career development services. Government agencies may take this study as a blueprint for upgrading the current regulations for international students, particularly in establishing a targeted immigration visa for recent graduates who want to establish their own businesses or invest in Australia.Keywords: medical education, medical staff shortage, medical student, occupational therapy education, social cognitive career theory, social cognitive career and motivation theory, workforce shortage

Learning a foreign language is not easy for many students, particularly for nursing students who need to complete their internships in the hospital. However, motivation always drives them to the foreign language classrooms. The purpose of this study was to understand the motivations and reasons behind why these nursing students decided to study Mandarin Chinese as part of their personal development and enhancement beyond the curriculum. One main question and one sub-research question were written, why would nursing students decide to take Chinese as the tool for foreign language and culture development? What and why are the reasons and motivations for nursing students to take Chinese beyond their curriculum? The qualitative case study method was employed in order to investigate 36 nursing university students in the United Kingdom. The results of this study concluded that nursing students tend to study Chinese due to personal development and career goals. School leaders, department heads, government leaders, policymakers, human resources professionals, vocational trainers, and researchers may take this study as the opportunity to reform their current human resource and education plans to offer foreign language courses to university students, members of the public, learners, and interested parties for both personal development and career enhancements.

PURPOSE: This study aims to understand the motivations of academic voyage and post-graduation career decisions of occupational therapy international students in Australia. The following two research questions guided this study: why do international students choose to study in Australia instead of ones in their own countries? And why do international students choose to study occupational therapy program(s) in Australia instead of ones in their own countries? PATIENTS AND METHODS: A qualitative design with phenomenology was employed to recruit 20 participants for the data collection procedures, including interview sessions, focus group activity, and member checking interview. The participants were studying one of the accredited occupational therapy programs in Australia as international students. RESULTS: Six themes were yielded. All participants expressed that due to the excellent education, reasonable tuition fees and living standard, and the positive career opportunities, almost all expressed their positive experiences of their Australian voyage as international students and tended to stay in Australia after they gained the registration career development. More importantly, the notions of contribution to Australian communities are captured as many considered Australia as an important place in their lives. CONCLUSION: University leaders may wish to take action in upgrading their international students' services, particularly career development services. Government agencies may take this study as a blueprint for upgrading the current regulations for international students, particularly in establishing a targeted immigration visa for recent graduates who want to establish their own businesses or invest in Australia.

The traditional Chinese culture influences perspectives toward family, marital status, and living style in Macau SAR, where Eastern cultures meet Western cultures. Although the Western living styles and standards highly influence the daily practices of residents; broken marriage, single parenting, and divorce are considered taboo in the community. The purpose of this study was to understand how teenaged single mothers describe their sources of stress and difficulties in the city. Eight single mothers, who were at different stages in single parenting and broken marriages, were interviewed and asked to share their lived stories. Guided by the Ecological System Theory, analysis of the data indicated that sources of stress and the behaviors of individuals may be highly influenced by surrounding people, environments, and societies. The results of the current study can help social caring providers and policymakers to better understand not only lived experiences of single mothers, but also the social problems, difficulties, and source of stress of the particular groups of people in society.

Nursing professionals face a high level of stress and burnout due to overloaded responsibilities, which may cause a low level of self-efficacy. From the perspective of nursing professionals, the research aims to understand what are the sources of stress and burnout which would reduce the self-efficacy and the unbalanced patient ratio and how would nursing professionals describe their experiences, sources of stress and burnout, and self-efficacy. Based on the snowball sampling strategy, 60 nursing professionals were invited for qualitative research data collection. Based on the lens of the self-efficacy approach, the results indicated that the environmental factors, including workplace bullying, family stress, misunderstanding of public members, and personal development and career enhancement took important roles in increasing their stress and burnout and in reducing their self-efficacy. The outcomes of this study discovered the social status and discrimination toward nursing professionals. Government leaders, policymakers, and researchers should take this research as an opportunity to reform their policy for human resource management and education for the respectfulness of medical and nursing professionals in the public health system.

International students are the most important population in the American higher education system, particularly for students from different cultural backgrounds. Besides research-based universities, comprehensive universities, and liberal arts colleges, historically black colleges and universities have the traditions to provide an equal learning environment to minorities, including international students. This study aimed to understand the academic experiences and expectations of Chinese international students enrolled at historically black colleges and universities in the Southeastern parts of the United States from the lens of neo-racism. One research question guided this study, which was: How would Chinese international university students describe their academic learning experience, expectations, stress, and difficulties at one of the historically black colleges and universities? The interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was employed to explore the academic experience, difficulties, stress, and lived stories of their academic voyage at one of the historically black colleges and universities in the United States. The findings indicated that discrimination based on skin color, nationality, and race, the gaps in academic expectations, and social unfairness of internship opportunities are still significant. The result indicated the directions and recommendations for leaders, policymakers, school administrators, and related professionals to redesign the current university planning and related counseling services to not only international students but all minority people. ; Education Sciences

Probable pathological gambling is one of the significant social issues after the release of the exclusive and monopoly system of gambling licenses from one owner to three casino operating concessions and eventually six sub-concessions in Macau. As a result, some residents in Macau had addicted to gambling behaviors and eventually became probable pathological gamblers. In fact, why these individuals become probable pathological gamblers and how did they become probable pathological gamblers should be identified to enhance the current social policy and regulations to assist and provide support to these people. This study employed the Social Cognitive Theory to explore the lived experiences and opinions from three ex-probable pathological gambling people in Macau. The result of this study aimed to provide and attract the attention of the social welfare department, policy makers, social workers and counselors in the field of gambling addiction.

The Macau Special Administrative Region has experienced a large number of changes before and after the Transfer of Sovereignty over Macau from the Portuguese Republic to the People's Republic of China during the late 1999s. One of the most significant changes within the government environment should be the reform of civil servant appraisal system. Currently, the civil servants in Macau are using the new civil servant appraisal system framework under the Law Number 31/2004 "Regime geral de avaliação do desempenho dos trabalhadores da Administração Pública". As the new appraisal system attracts a large number of attentions for research, a satisfied number of literature reviews are stored in the current research bank. However, the literature reviews and research studies about the former civil servant appraisal system framework under the Law Number 87/89/M "Estatuto dos Trabalhadores da Administração Pública de Macau" were mostly written in either Chinese language or Portuguese language. Only very few English written research studies concern the former civil servant appraisal system under the Law Number 87/89/M "Estatuto dos Trabalhadores da Administração Pública de Macau". Therefore, this paper provides the opportunities for international and English readers to understand the administrative law reform within the Macau environment.