Research Proposal on A Comparative Study of Consumers’ Attitude and Behaviour towards Online Fashion Shopping: Cross-Cultural Study of Malaysia and United Kingdom.

Project Specification Form

 

Note: The PSF is an online submission. Use this form to discuss your proposal with your supervisor. Please complete all sections before meeting your supervisor so that relevant comments can be furnished.

 

A.                Project Title.

 

The working title of this research is initially drafted as – A Comparative Study of Consumers’ Attitude and Behaviour towards Online Fashion Shopping: Cross-Cultural Study of Malaysia and United Kingdom.

 

B.                 Brief description on project background. (.i.e. problem context, rationale, description of problem area, nature of challenge)

 

Project Background

 

This study will look at the differences between Malaysia and United Kingdom with respect to the consumers’ attitude and behaviour towards online fashion shopping.  In this proposal, how culture makes differences on the behaviour and attitude of a customer given the same channel which is the internet will be examined. Moreover, how the online buyers’ attitude and behaviour are influencing the e-retailing industries in both selected countries will be investigated.

 

Statement of the Problem

 

This paper seeks to answer the questions like what prevailing attitude and behaviour does a customer has despite the differences in culture, what are the distinct cultural behaviour a Malaysian has that an English do not have and vice versa and finally, what are the cultural and social attributes we can get in a Malaysian or English attitude and behaviour during their access to online fashion shopping.

C.                Brief description of project objectives. (i.e. scope of proposal, constructs used, limitations and significance)

 

Project Aims and Objectives

 

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the consumers’ cross-cultural attitude and behaviour towards online fashion shopping in two selected countries, Malaysia and United Kingdom. In lieu with this, the study will address the following specific objectives:

 

§     To evaluate how the online fashion shoppers in Malaysia and United Kingdom differ in internet fashion and sites choices

§     To investigate the perceptions of consumers’ in buying the online apparels in Malaysia and United Kingdom

§     To identify the consumers’ motivational factors and concern factors towards online fashion shopping in Malaysia and United Kingdom

§     To differentiate the behavioural outcomes of online fashion buyers’ in Malaysia and United Kingdom

 

Significant or Justifications

 

This study gives new thoughts in understanding the behaviour and attitude of customers. What makes this study significant is the fact that it takes a quite difficult task of understanding inductively the behaviour of customers using a cross-cultural approach.

 

Scope and limitations

 

The study will particularly focuses on selected customers in Malaysia and UK. In order to come up with such scheme, the study will also select dominant online fashion shopping websites in which customers from United Kingdom and Malaysia are permanent subscribers.

D.                Brief description of the models/theories/concepts that will be used in this proposal. (I.e. consumer behaviourism model, CSF and etc.)

 

·     Model of buying behaviour

·     Consumer environmental analysis

·     a  theoretical model of culture’s influence on behaviour

·     relationship model between culture and subculture

·     Three elements of consumer analysis

·     structural models of attitudes

·     motivation links needs and objectives

·     Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

·     behavioural learning theories

·     Consumer decision process model

 

E.                 Academic research being carried out and other information, techniques being learnt. (i.e. literature – what are the names of books you are going to read / data sets you are going to use)

 

Books and e-books

 

The author of the thesis will mainly look for the consumer behaviour, marketing, online shopping, e-commerce, understanding consumers, worldwide retail industry, microeconomic and behaviour as well as any other books or e-books, that related to the selected topic, to gather beneficial information for the research.

 

Online resources’ names

 

Types of e-resources

Name of the e-resources

Journals

Emerald Fulltext, Informaworld, SAGE Journals Online, Cambridge Journals Online, SwetsWise, Taylor & Francis Journals, and Web of Knowledge

e-books

Gale Database, Dawson Books, Informaworld, Ebrary, NetLibrary, and Biz/ed premier

Articles

Informaworld, WARC.com, and METAPRESS

Academic and professional publications

IngentaConnect, and EBSCOhost databases

 

Key words

 

The key words below will be use by the researcher to effectively and exactly search for the data in books, journals, articles, websites, newsletters, as well as in other professional and academic publications.

 

[Consumer attitude, consumer behaviour, Malaysia, United Kingdom, worldwide retail industry, retail industry in Malaysia, retail industry in United Kingdom, consumer behaviour analysis, demographics, personal choices, consumer motivations, learning and knowledge, the elements of consumer learning, behavioural learning theories, cognitive learning theory, measures of consumer learning, culture and subculture, social class, family and group influence, consumer decision process, online fashion shoppers identity, age, gender, income, education, the dynamics of motivations, types and systems of needs, the measures of motives, concern factors towards online fashion shopping, structural models of attitudes, attitude formation, strategies of attitude change, cognitive dissonance theory, attribution theory, the measurement of social class, cross-cultural consumer analysis, and the models of consumers].

 

 

 

 

 

F.                 Brief description of the materials/methodologies needed by the proposal. (I.e. data collection methods, sampling, sample size and target group etc.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The author of the thesis will firstly gather secondary data from online resources, books, journals, articles, newsletters, and in any other professional and academic publications to clarify the current situation of e-retailing industry in Malaysia and United Kingdom as well as English consumers’ analysis towards online fashion shopping. Subsequently, the author will make a general overview about the Malaysians’ e-fashion shopping behaviours and attitudes by using primary data from the direct surveys. The direct surveys are only targeted for 150 trial, occasional, frequent, and regular e-shoppers in Malaysia. Moreover, the author planned to conduct a direct interview from 10 to 20 minutes with five to seven e-retailers in Malaysia to gather functional and valuable information about their customers’ cultural behaviours.

 

G.                Brief description of the evaluation and analysis proposed for this project. (i.e. project deliverables and hypothesis, correlation  test etc)

 

Project deliverable

 

The things to be accomplished are illustrated in the following Gantt chart.

TASK

MONTH

 

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

5th

6th

7th

8th

9th

Select topic

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Undertake preliminary literature search

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• 
  

  Define research questions

  
  


• 
  

  Write-up aims and objectives

  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Select appropriate methodology and locate sources of information. Confirm access.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Write-up Dissertation Plan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Undertake and write-up draft critical literature review.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Secondary and Primary Data Detailed

• 
  

  Sources

  
  


• 
  

  Consulted

  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Research Findings:

• 
  

  Analyzed

  
  


• 
  

  Evaluated

  
  


• 
  

  Written-up

  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Discussion:

• 
  

  Research findings evaluated and discussed in relation to the literature review

  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Methodology written-up

(including limitations and constraints)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Main body of the report written-up and checked for logical structure

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• 
  

  Conclusions drawn

  
  


• 
  

  Recommendations made

  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction and Executive Summary written-up

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Final format and indexing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Print

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hypothesis

 

HP1 Online fashion shoppers in Malaysia and United Kingdom differ in online buying   behaviour

 

HP2 Online fashion shoppers in Malaysia and United Kingdom have similar and different cultural attitude and behaviour towards online fashion shopping

 

HP3 Online fashion shoppers in Malaysia and United Kingdom have similar and different perception when defining online apparels

 

HP4 Internet fashion shoppers in Malaysia and United Kingdom have similar and different motivational and concern factors towards e-fashion shopping

 

HP5 Home fashion shoppers in Malaysia and United Kingdom have similar and different e-fashion choices

 

HP6 Electronic fashion shoppers in Malaysia and United Kingdom differ in e-shopping site choices

 

H.                Illustration of how this project will benefit the future employability.

 

As a result of the inadequate consumer researches in Malaysia and constantly changing trends among English people, this study can assist the e-retailers to follow up the updated information on consumers’ buying behaviour and attitude in Malaysia and United Kingdom. Besides, this comparison study or research can give an idea about cross-cultural studies to other researchers or scientist in the upcoming days.

 

 

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A Study on Wassily Kandinsky

 

INTRODUCTION

I do believe that the footprints of life’s beauty can be seen and perceived in many forms of art such as poems, sculpture as well as paintings and one detailed  example of an existing epitome’ of art are the amazing and world class masterpieces as made possible by Wassily Kandinsky as reflected through his wonderful art works through paintings such as the ‘The Great Synthesis’ and ‘Blue Mountain’ as his masterpieces really soothes to receive a better judgment that an individual can give in a particular piece of art created by Kandinsky. Thus, Kandinsky’s great works is a manifestation that art is a part of every day living, that Kandinsky’s works have affected people’s emotions and feelings and how they perceive things in their environment as well as deal with the unpredictable waves of life. Moreover, Wassily Kandinsky can be considered as one of the greatest artist of time and is the pillar personality when it comes to depicting various views of abstract in terms of shapes, figures and diagrams that has contributed in the world of graphics and designs as being carried out by the contemporary artists as of the present as well as students like in the field of fine arts designing and other related field that is art related.

 

MAIN BODY

Wassily Kandinsky from Moscow Russia was being fascinated by art and music’s poignant influence because it allows the individual to have the freedom of imagination, interpretation and emotional response that can be based from abstract emotions through art designs and paintings and Kandinsky’s extraordinary understanding of the resemblance between painting and music came forth in his text “On Stage Composition,” and “Yellow Sound,” of prose poems and expresses certain spiritual values as an advanced art as Kandinsky emphasizes such superiority in advancing toward what the epoch of the great spiritual. Moreover, he realized the tremendous power that art could exert over the spectator and that painting could develop powers equivalent to those of music within the magnitude of revolutionary change as compared to the fundamental transformation in Kandinsky’s painting from a figurative idiom to gratis, open, intangible work as the works of Kandinsky is an example of the intellectual likeness of artists in search of latest vehicles for articulating their deepest feelings and passion through art.

Thus, Kandinsky believes that,  if the objective element of a painting is to be taken away, the building blocks of the composition would reveal themselves to cause a feeling of repose and tranquil repetition and of well-balanced parts in a manner that has great modernism in lieu to modern graphic design. The analysis made by Kandinsky did not result from simple arbitrary ideas associations, but from the inner experience of the painter who has passed years creating abstract paintings of an incredible sensorial richness, working on forms and with colors, observing for a long time and tirelessly his own paintings and those of other artists, noting simply their subjective and pathetic effect on the sensibility to colors of the artist and poetic soul.

Henceforth, the point of the Triangle is constituted only by some individuals who bring the sublime bread to men. It is a spiritual Triangle which moves forward and rises slowly and sometimes remains immobile. The inner necessity for Kandinsky is the principle of the art and the foundation of forms and colors’ harmony. He defines it as the principle of the efficient contact of the form with the human soul. ‘’Every form is the delimitation of a surface by another one; it possesses an inner content which is the effect it produces on the one who looks at it attentively’’. This is the right of the artist to an unlimited freedom, but this freedom becomes a crime if it is not founded on such a necessity.

The art is born from the inner necessity of the artist in an enigmatic and mystic way and acquires life as it becomes an independent subject by a spiritual breath. For instance, the mixing of white with black leads to gray, which has no active force and the affective tonality is near that of green and that the red and the green form the third big contrast, as the orange and the purple. Thus, he has been fascinated by the expression power of linear forms that is an important aspect when dealing to graphics designing as the ‘’pathos of a force entering in action and the effort is annoyed by no obstacle because the straight line proceeds from the action of a unique force with no opposition that its domain when on the opposite two forces are in presence and enter in conflict with the angular line.” (Michel Henry, Seeing the invisible, on Kandinsky) Furthermore, ‘’Kandinsky calls abstract the content that painting must express, that’s to say this invisible life that individuals are, as there needs to be ‘’the use of Kandinskian equation, to which peopke have alluded to, can be written in reality as follows : Interior = interiority = invisible = life = pathos = abstract.” 

Generally, Kandinsky analyzes the geometrical elements which compose every painting, namely the point and the line, as well as the physical support and the material surface on which the artist paints and which he calls the basic plane and doesn’t analyze them on an objective and exterior point of view, but on the point of view of their inner effect on the living subjectivity of the observer who looks them and let them acting on his sensibility so, the the point used by the painter is not a geometric point, it is not a mathematical abstraction, it possesses a certain extension, a form and a color. This form can be a square, a triangle, a circle, which is like a star that will take a different tonality in resonance with other points or with lines. The line is the product of a force, it is a point on which a living force has been applied in a given direction, the force applied on the pencil or on the paint brush by the hand of the artist. The produced linear forms can be of several types : a straight line which results from an unique force applied in a single direction, an angular line which results from the alternation of two forces with a different direction and a curved-like line produced by the effect of two forces acting simultaneously.

The subjective effect produced by a line depends on its orientation : the horizontal line corresponds to the ground on which man rests and moves, to flatness, it possesses a dark and cold affective tonality similar with black while the vertical line corresponds to height which offers no support, it possesses on the opposite a luminous and warm tonality close from white and yellow. A diagonal by consequence a less warm or cold tonality according to its inclination according to the horizontal and to the vertical. The angle formed by the angular line possesses as well an inner sonority which is warm and close to yellow for an acute angle, cold and similar to blue for an obtuse angle and similar to red for a right angle. The artist possesses the intuition of this inner effect of the dimensions, which he chooses according to the tonality he wants to give to his work. Kandinsky even considers the basic plane as a living being that the artist “fertilizes” and of which he feels the “breathing” as it evokes the condensation and heaviness and that the work of the painter to listen to know these effects in order to produce paintings which are not just the effect of a random process, but the fruit of an authentic work and the result of an effort toward the inner beauty.

Henceforth, the abstract ‘’language’’ of line, shape and color has been theorized as a system of visual communication from verbal language but in universal faculties of perception as theorists of “visual language” aimed to locate a universal code that communicates through the mechanics of the eye and brain, bypassing the contingencies of verbal language and cultural context. The modernist theory of “visual language” compares verbal and visual expression in order to keep the two systems apart from one another, had tried to identify abstract and universal grammar of visual expression and elaborated the theory of “visual language” and gave it a scientific rationale and excavates some of the origins of contemporary design theory with the goal of finding a place within those assumptions for a more expansive “language of vision’’, intersects with verbal language to discuss the laws of visual form, calling simple geometric shapes “‘forms belonging to the sphere of graphic language, constituting a “‘sphere of draftsmanship with its limited means of expression respectively.

CONCLUSION

Therefore, there is a realization that it would be necessary to develop such a style in terms of modern graphics designing through the power of art in different mediums in fostering knowledge and talents of an artist to create acceptance and comprehension. Most of the works of Kandinsky had retained fragments of recognizable imagery and still bound to the outward appearance of nature and must draw forms from it’’. There need to achieve the sublimity of the image by freeing color from its descriptive function to reveal its latent expressive content. Kandinsky indicates the naturalistic content of subject matter with abbreviated signs, emphasizing the purely pictorial aspects of color and form in order to dematerialize the objective world. In addition, Kandinsky retains a measure of formal freedom, refusing to accede to the dictates of pure geometricization; there is even a touch of playfulness in the picture, whose forms have a vaguely toy-like appearance as the geometry is orchestrated in a euphoric riot of color, set against and anchored deep blue background which introduces a musical connotation and transports the picture into the realm of dream and the irrational. Kandinsky frequently declared that geometrical form as a means to an end in terms of seemingly ‘rational’ phase in the development of his art he refrained from casting aside the ideas of dream and romance per se.

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The racial gap in health is spread across all domains of health

The racial gap in health is spread across all domains of health

 

Introduction

            Health is a major concern of almost all individuals as the latter will determine certain success of quality life being lived by the people and that race and ethnicity when it comes to providing healthcare services does really matter and presses an issue engaging into gaps in health from across domains. The statement is being supported by proponents Hawyard et al. (2000, p. 910 in, Lyons and Chamberlain 2006, p. 38), as indicated that, “racial gap in health is spread across all domains of health, and socioeconomic conditions, not health risks behaviors, are the primary origins of the racial stratification of health”, this implies to the assumption that stratified healthcare comes with gap or health related disparities such as for instance, race and ethnicity issues pointing towards Latino Americans, the Hispanics from within the presence of healthcare system that can be full of patient care and safety controversies that can partake without justice due diverse race and ethnicity backgrounds.

            This essay will be particular on race and ethnicity from health context, discussing and analyzing why the process is important into the healthcare systems and the recognizing of socio-economic conditions, ways that affects  stratified pattern of health and its nature and to explain why health disparities are not merely about health risk behaviors but also on racial gap in the health care process as well as its positive stature. Then, the need to create effective conclusion, the possible learning about racial gap in health as well as several related aspects and the need to provide useful recommendation on how to be aware and at the same time avoid or terminate points of racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare assessing if the particular gaps is being directly associated to disparities and not of health risks behavior of the people involved in the process.

 

Discussion/Analysis

            Ideally, race and ethnicity relating to health and its systems are being used as variables into researches pertaining to general domain of the healthcare and that, the truth of the matter can be descriptive and might not use in developing approaches upon health improvement pathways, and the fact that race and ethnicity does reflect weak and or poor healthcare status of the ones affected by the problem. The stature and the conceptsof ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’, have been considered and do have poor consistency into health system and terms the two bring about and the validity of ‘race’and ‘ethnicity’ into the healthcare ways plays an important function into the presence of racial gaps and that the channel of communication is of strong barrier and may be one point that assume the gap is not based on health risks behavior but could be because of the disparities and differences into delivery of proper healthcare services and other factors involved. There can be tendencies of gathering ample ethnic knowledge and the including of racial points, the critical health approach for example, those issues found in UK health contexts and that other nation may help in transforming racial gaps into a productive as well as well motivated healthcare system and policies. It can be that, “multi-cultural ethnic health explanations intends for displacing more materially driven perceptions and beliefs of any healthcare outcomes, and that service dedication towards patients regardless of race and ethnic position is truly essential and needed before any unresolved issues will arose that can be in close pattern of racial and ethnic problems from within behaviors that risky to health are probably unrecognized and forgotten for effective healthcare valuation and truth” (Sheldon and Parker, 1992 pp. 104-110). Thus, health access to care can shape public opinion about whether a problem exists and influence the actions of health guidelines proponents in addressing the racial gap as one major issue. There can be that, the exploration path can assume disparities on a high rank if there conforms to vast health team perception of such link amongst race, ethnicity situations and the certain notion as to whether such views of health and gap do differ depending on patients’ racial and ethnic set up, from a national survey resource upon recognizing public awareness of racial/ethnic differences in health and how race affect the health care system into Hispanics or Latinos indications.

            Furthermore, such survey, being conducted by Kaiser Family Foundation, Harvard University’s School of Public Health and The Lillie-Blanton et al., Public Perceptions 219 Washington Post (1995; 1996), have asserted that, “racial differ in the perception of socio-economic realities facing African Americans and Latinos in healthcare area with a focus on health and health care issues. The view in which racial gap affects health system have established broad health context into assessing of racism from within sectors of health care society as a whole. For example, “on average, 19 percent of the public, as 16 percent of whites, 35 percent of African Americans, and 30 percent of Latinos have said racial gap/ racism is really an existing huge issue in health care compared to the average of 31 to 35 percent that say racism is a major problem in other sectors as the Whites and African Americans differ considerably in their views on the extent to which racial or ethnic background influences how one is treated by the health system, the views of Latinos on whether race affects one’s treatment in the health system are somewhat in between those of African Americans and whites, the health system very or somewhat often treats people unfairly based on their race or ethnicity.

            Moreover, it is important for health systems to collect and report on health towards race/ethnicity as health inequality may drive people and health policy makers’ have full attention into the racial gap issue and not have focus on risks behaviors, as the ongoing identification of race disparity may be related to the lack of health care awareness and it may be shaped by perception of several Americans for example that race or ethnicity shows alarming threat into the system of health as race affect patients’ health care from basis of health knowledge and not merely opinion based and of course, the receptivity to effective initiatives or health education campaigns upon reduction into such disparities as for complete care.

            Meanwhile, proponent Kreps (2006), have reported that, “there are striking inequities in health outcomes between racialand ethnic groups in US as many groups experiencing significantly poor health outcomes than members of the racial majority, non-Hispanic patients, thesedisturbing health disparities exist even when controlling fordifferences in income and health insurance. Racial disparitiesin health outcomes are related to communication problems withinthe health care system leading to the unequal access to healthinformation and inadequate participation in health care decisionmaking”. Furthermore, as due to worldwide migration, globalization and  EU enlargement, European communities are becoming diverse as well in lieu to health status of migrants and ethnic minority groups as being vulnerable, due to their lower socio-economic position, and sometimes because of traumatic migration experiences and lack of adequate social support. Thus, it seems only rational those human rights activists argue that access to health care services must be seen as a basic right for everyone. Race and ethnicity are strongly associated with socioeconomic status and with related factors such as education and poverty status as race and ethnicity are so strongly correlated with socioeconomic status, rather than genetic and cultural aspects of race and ethnicity. Despite limits, only when health needs of every races and ethnicities are considered can people and healthcare team develop prevention and screening healthcare programs necessary in minimizing the impact of health issues in a country. Hawyard et al. (2000 in, Lyons and Chamberlain 2006, p. 38), may mean healthcare service failure is high upon which points of discrimination might exists and stating and believing that, racial differences in health are not because of health risk behaviors due to issues involved for example, between the care providers and patients due to presence of strong disparity into the health services and systems manifested along the way. Henceforth, ratherthan simply stating that blacks and whites should receive equalcare once admitted, significant problems of health deliverymay exist at the hospitals to which patients are admitted andwithin the continuity of care between physician and hospital. Bradley and colleagues (2004), indicated that, “patients’ racial/ethnicgroups were abstracted from the medical records using the following categories, white, African American/black, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander, American Indian or Alaska native and other or unknown race/ethnicity” respectively.

            In addition, there has been “culturally competent health care and health promotion higher on the European health policy agenda and to support other hospitals by compiling practical knowledge and instruments” and then, one “strategy to test feasibility of becoming a migrant-friendly and culturally competent organization was implementation and evaluation of three selected Subprojects in the diverse reality of European hospitals, with the local implementation financed out of hospital funds, but supported in a European benchmark ways” (Migrant Friendly Hospitals’ Project, 2005). Amiably, there can be socioeconomic ways and conditions being related to racial or ethnic stratification of health emphasizing that certain socioeconomic and racial/ethnic disparities in health care qualityhave been extensively documented. Recently, eliminationof disparities in health care has become the focus of a nationalinitiative. Yet, there is little effort to monitor and addressdisparities in health care through organizational quality improvement along with modifications in quality performancemeasure, disparities represent significant quality problem in order to identify andaddress disparities; clinical performance measures should bestratified by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic position forpublic reporting; population-wide monitoring should incorporateadjustment for race/ethnicity and socioeconomic position; andstrategies to adjust payment for race/ethnicity and socioeconomicposition should be considered to reflect the known effects ofboth on morbidity (Fiscella, Franks, Gold and Clancy, 2000).

 

Conclusion

            For the conclusion, such health oriented individuals should allocate race toensure that the designation most closely matches what they believereflects their personal and cultural background (Mays, Ponce, Washington and Cochran, 2003). Aside, if  such open ended optionsallow for more individually accurate description, but categorizationfor a study might be a challenge; authors should endeavor tomake the process of coding transparent. Therefore, the analysis by race and ethnicity has become some reflex, accompanying every table that examines demographicdifferences, such as age and sex.” While it may be appropriateto analyze race and ethnicity, the fact that race was assessedis not sufficient reason to analyze outcomes by racial categories, the need to assume and recognize relevance of racial gap in healthcare, based on certain studies and literature,having in critical evaluation of race and ethnicity as constructswithin the success of healthcare service and delivery stature.

            However, if race is being usedas proxy measure, researchers shouldattempt to measure as many variables as possible directly, suchas socioeconomic status as well as education and in doing so, researcher beginto sort out whether an outcome is truly related to race and or to some factors with closer relationshipfrom within causal healthcare pathway.Determining racial gaps in health plays an important initial step in assessingquality of care delivery and outcomes, such as those illustrated by Bradleyand colleagues (2004), by means of reporting race and ethnicity transparently and beginningto explore other important and related characteristics, biomedicalresearch can move beyond race as a social construct in itselfand explore other tangible components that can be affected toimprove the public’s health.

 

Recommendations

            For the recommendation, such as related to the experience into MFH project partners, there is the need to integrate crucial points for successful development of services and organizational cultures in order to avoid race gaps into the healthcare context. Thus, accepting that creating such migrant-friendly hospital plays a value on investment in patient care and services deemed useful for the family of the patient without any health disparities in motion (The Amsterdam Declaration in, Bischoff 2003). Then, the increased awareness will be needed and to find out points towards health disparities such as those that are gender motivated as leading to change in communication as well as allocation of proper healthcare system resource and development. Also, the developing of partnerships with organizations and advocacy groups who are knowledgeable about migrant and minority ethnic group issues is an important step that can facilitate the development of a more culturally and linguistically appropriate service delivery system. The challenge for those who seek remedies is to improve awareness of problematic racial differences in health and health care access and to encourage initiatives to reduce these differences. Several Whites need to be more aware of the real-life circumstances and situations that face members of racial and ethnic minority groups in this country when they seek treatment. In addition, some members of racial and ethnic minority groups need to be more aware of disparities so that they can be more proactive in obtaining needed care. The drive to reduce racial and ethnic differentials will require both a better understanding of the factors that contribute to poorer health and health care access and systematic efforts to address positive health and its wellbeing cycles.

 

References

Fiscella, K., Franks, P., Gold, M. and Clancy, C. (2000), Inequality in Quality: Addressing Socioeconomic, Racial, and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care. JAMA. 2000;283:2579-2584.

 

Kaiser Family Foundation/The Washington Post/Harvard University Survey Project. (1995-96), The Four Americas: Government and Social Policy through the Eyes of America’s Multi-racial and Multi-ethnic Society (No. 1105).

 

Kreps, G. (2006),  Communication and Racial Inequities in Health Care. American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 49, No. 6, 760-774 George Mason University

 

Lyons, A., & Chamberlain, K. (2006). Health Psychology: A Critical Introduction. Cambridge University Press pp. 1-462 in, Hawyard et al. (2000)

 

Migrant-Friendly Hospitals Project (2005), migrant-friendly hospitals, Project Summary. March 2005

Available from: http://www.mfh-eu.net/public/files/mfh-summary.pdf

 

Sheldon, T. and Parker, H. (1992), Race and ethnicity in health research. Journal of Public Health.1992; 14: 104-110

 

The Amsterdam Declaration: Towards Migrant-Friendly Hospitals in an ethno-culturally diverse Europe in, Bischoff, A. (2003), Caring for migrant and minority patients in European hospitals A review of effective interventions, 2003, Swiss Forum for Migration and Population Studies A study commissioned by the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for the Sociology of Health and Medicine, Vienna, ‘MFH – Migrant Friendly Hospitals”. WHO.

Available from: http://www.mfheu.net/public/files/european_recommendations/mfh_amsterdam_declaration_english.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

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Clinical Trials

Clinical Trials

 

Question 1

During the clinical trials I had one patient who underwent radiation therapy. He is a cancer patient who has already underwent come form of treatment for his condition with no results. His health has started to fail even if the cancer is still in an early stage. A clear dose response relationship was observed for the radiation patient during the trial, which supports the use of higher radiation doses to achieve optimal results. During the clinical trial, the patient had been more than willing to participate.

This clinical trial definitely shows that radiation is not only feasible but is the treatment of choice for physicians wanting to give their patients the best treatment, keep precise control over the procedure and get it right first time. Radiation can be used safely and effectively in patients with the most difficult problems that we face today. The patient is the right choice to be the one to participate in the clinical trial since he has been undergoing several therapies for his condition without any improvements. The clinical trial had not only helped establish the effectiveness of the procedure of radiotherapy but also helped the patient gain improvements regarding his condition.

 

Question 2

Another patient has cancer of the bowel. This patient has given the option of chemotherapy and radiotherapy for treatment. The treatment of choice for either type of neoplasm is surgical removal. If surgery is not possible – as in cases where the cancer has spread widely or is inoperable – radiation and drugs (chemotherapy) are used. Chemotherapeutic drugs destroy malignant cells (2004).

For this patient, he did undergo surgery at first, only to find out that it doesn’t help at all since the cancer cells have already undergone metastasis. After the major bowel surgery, an outpatient appointment was given to the patient. He was informed that after his surgery for bowel cancer, he can benefit from additional treatment (called adjuvant therapy) in the form of chemotherapy or radiotherapy and he received an appointment to see the oncologists (who treat patients with cancer).

As previously stated, when chemotherapy or radiotherapy is used in addition to surgery it is known as ‘adjuvant chemotherapy’ or ‘adjuvant radiotherapy’. For example, following surgery you may be given a course of chemotherapy or radiotherapy. This aims to kill any cancer cells which may have spread away from the primary tumor site. This is the kind of therapy that the patient underwent. Sometimes, adjuvant chemotherapy or radiotherapy is given before surgery to shrink a large tumor so that the operation to remove the tumor is easier for a surgeon to do, and is more likely to be successful.

 

Question 3

            Cancer of the prostate gland is a common cause of death, accounting for about 2 to 3 percent of all male deaths ( 2000). Once cancer of the prostate gland does occur, the cancerous cells are usually stimulated to more rapid growth by testosterone and are inhibited by removal of both testes so that testosterone cannot be formed ( 2000). Also, prostatic cancer can be usually can be inhibited by administration of estrogens.

            Radiotherapy is the treatment of disease with radiation, especially by selective irradiation with x-rays or other ionizing radiation and by ingestion of radioisotopes. It is also called as radiation therapy. Long-term control of prostate cancer can be achieved in a relatively high-risk patient population using interstitial brachytherapy in combination with external beam radiation therapy ( 2003).

External beam radiation has proven successful in the treatment of localized prostate cancer in phase 2 and is associated with a success rate comparable to surgery for patients with localized prostate cancer. The survival rate for patients with localized prostate cancer, stages A and B, treated with external beam radiation is similar to that for age-adjusted cohorts without prostate cancer (1996).

External radiation generally is delivered in a daily dose of 180 cGy to 200 cGy for a period of 6 to 7 weeks (total dose 6200 cGy to 7400 cGy). Potential complications include impotence, incontinence, cystitis, urethral strictures, prostatitis, diarrhea, edema of the lower extremities and bone marrow suppression. Patients also may become physically tired, and they should be instructed to get as much rest as possible during their course of treatment. It is not uncommon for erythema to develop and for the skin to become red or dry in the area of treatment. Affected skin should be exposed to the air as much as possible and patients should be instructed to avoid wearing tight clothing. Patients also must be instructed not to use creams or lotions on affected skin without their doctor’s approval (1996).

 

Question 4

The College of Radiographers has devised a new strategy to streamline the education, development and career paths of radiographers. Practitioners has strictly adhered to these codes and strategies by being highly skilled individuals, working autonomously and supervising assistant practitioners and other support staff. It is a requirement also for practitioners to complete a BSc degree in either therapeutic or diagnostic radiography. Subjects include anatomy, physiology and pathology, science and instrumentation, diagnostic or therapeutic radiography practice, social sciences and image interpretation, as well as aspects of patient care, including first aid and counseling. Advanced practitioners are also expected to work in a specialist or complex field of practice within radiography, or carry additional responsibilities across a range of practices. Thus, they will be team leaders and clinical experts managing their own caseloads. They may also be carrying out complex treatments or treatment planning and reporting on image appearances.

 

 

 

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