(2) Diversity Questions to Answer With (4) Peer Reviews
iAREduce
SOCW1Project.docxThroughout this course you will read scholarly work on questions of diversity, exclusion and inclusion. You will write a weekly blog reflecting upon those issues, but rather than offering an unsubstantiated opinion on these matters, you’ll be expected to offer a unique but informed opinion supported by scholarly research and empirical evidence.
You will have freedom to choose the topic and the particular angle of the issue as you wish to explore it, but there are some clear parameters you’ll need to follow.
Each blog entry must have:
1. Minimum 500 words (15% penalty for falling short of the word count)
2. 1 citation from academic source materials read that week in class. This must be cited with a page number and author. Sources may not be reused week-to-week.
3. 1 citation of an academic source (a relevant peer-reviewed article) from outside of class. See the writing guide to determine what is an appropriate source. Hint: Wikipedia is not an academic source. Sources may not be reused week-to-week.
4. 1 citation of a news media article relevant to the topic.
5. At least 1 audio or visual element that adds substantial content to support your argument. This could be a link to a video, pictures, etc.
Peer Review 1:
Robert A:
Equal opportunity is very important in our society and needs to be an issue that we and companies take a good hard look at in every aspect. There is much to be discussed when talking about this subject as only very few people of other race think that that it is being taken seriously, in fact less than half of all people see it as fair (Booker, 2015). This means that we need to step up as individuals and take care of business on that end.
I will speak from personal experience, I was what is called the CMEO (Command Managed Equal Opportunity) advisor while I was in the military which has had a greatly positive impact on the military as a whole (CMEO, 2019). Tis program was a multifaceted program that ensured the fair treatment of everyone, and I do mean everyone in the Navy. This program, from my perspective helped people out and ensured that there was a safe working environment for everyone.
First and foremost there was training, training, and more training for the people in the navy once guidance came out and how to handle almost every situation you can think of. There was also a CMEO at every command no matter how small that also went to an intensive 2 week training to become qualified to run the program. After that one was then in good shape to run the program effectively. There also was on the job training as well as the navy took this issue very seriously. I think the military is a great place to model after because this program actually worked and ensured fairness across the military.
Then onto the actual cases, I had several cases in which there were issues that involved equal opportunity. Once such case was two people that spoke the same language, not English, and were harassed in the workplace with comments like “You’re not allowed to speak that language at work.” Also, they felt like there was a hostile work environment over the whole thing. The fact is that anyone can speak any language they’d like if it not impacting mission success. This is an instance of people thinking they can do what they want, or have not been trained properly to understand that everyone, even in the military, has rights.
Other cases involved harassment and other types of equal opportunity issues. Honestly, most people weren’t looking to get anyone in trouble or to cause heartache and pain. Most people just wanted the behavior to stop, they just wanted to be left alone and not bothered over something that is their right. So what we did in those instances was to talk to the person who was harassing and ensure they knew navy policies and regulations in order to calm the storm, so to speak. That taught me one big thing, everyone just wants to live their lives and be left alone to do their jobs.
Works Cited
Booker, B. (2015, September 21). How Equal Is American Opportunity? Survey Shows Attitudes Vary By Race. Retrieved from NPR: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/09/21/442068004/how-equal-is-american-opportunity-survey-shows-attitudes-vary-by-race
CMEO. (2019, January 31). Command Managed Equal Opportunity (CMEO) Manager . Retrieved from Navy: https://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/support/21st_century_sailor/equal_opportunity/pages/cmeos.aspx
Peer Review 2:
Michael:
My fiancé is in nursing school and she shares with me what she is learning and recently she was telling me how her professors have been stressing the importance of increases nurses’ awareness of spiritual and cultural diversity. He professors informed her that it is vital for nurses to have knowledge and understanding about that various spiritual beliefs and cultures because this knowledge will help guide nurses in how they care for their patients. For example, nurses must know the different nutritional habits of various cultures because this can guide a patients treatment plan and recovery process. It is also important for nurses to take care of their patient’s using a holistic approach. No longer are nurses being taught to simple focus on the patient disease, rather they are taught to focus on the patients spiritual well-being, psychological well-being, developmental stage, and sociocultural status. All these variables make up an individual and by not only focusing on one aspect of a person, nurses are better able to facilitate in the recovery and healing process, as well as promote disease prevention for patients. I was very interested in what my fiancée shared with me about her studies so I chose to look further into the topic of spiritual and cultural diversity for nurses. I found a n article that discussed the importance of a nurse’s awareness and sensitivity to spiritual and cultural diversity. This awareness enables the nurse to provide effective care for their patients. The article was about a program that was instituted “to determine if providing education, post education resources, and a personal self-assessment could increase nurses' confidence, comfort, and knowledge base in the area of spiritual and cultural diversity in health care” (Johnston, 2012). A group of nurses were provided with education material on various spiritual and cultural groups. They were given a self-learning module and additional resources following the primary education on the topic. After they were given time to work with the material given they were asked to complete a survey about the nurses feeling on the material and how it impacted their work. 72% of the nurse said that following the education they felt they were able to provide appropriate interventions and care for families and patients in spiritual and or cultural distress. Half the nurses reported a significant increase in their confidence of personal knowledge of spiritual and cultural care (Johnston, 2012). This article demonstrates the importance of educational programs on cultural diversity. Not only does it benefit the patients receiving care but it also positively impacts the nurses and their confidence in their ability to provide care. While I primarily discussed how important knowledge of various cultural groups is to nurses, this same principle can be applied to everyone and all other careers. While we may not be able to learn everything about every cultural group, we can also educate ourselves and have a general foundation that enables us to provide respect to everyone regardless of their culture. I think it is also important that if we do not know something about a culture we seek to learn about it rather than dismissing it simply because it is not what we practice.
