Literature Review - Increasing the retention and graduation rate of Essay

Literature Review - Increasing the retention and graduation rate of Latino college students - Essay Example This trend has conventionally flared up many issues of equity and race because of a resulting decrease in the economic prosperity and social status of Latino minority in America in comparison to the White majority. After a steady decline in college participation of Latino students between 1970s and early years of the decade from 1980 to 1990, the percentage of their college attendance has increased. However, this increase in college attendance of Latino students is accompanied with an increase in the stratification of institutions. According to Karen (1991 cited in Thomas, 1998, p.1), a vast majority of the Latino students joined the institutions which would generate least socioeconomic returns. After completion of high school studies, most Latino students seek admission in two-year colleges unlike their White peers, who go for a four-year enrollment in college. Lack of provision of high quality education to students from such minorities as Latinos ruins their future and they lag beh ind others financially (Lynch and Engle, 2010). The increase in population of Latino students in American colleges that has occurred in the recent years has exposed the university personnel to numerous types of challenges that revolve around the factors affecting the retention of these students. Within the Latino community, there exist a lot of differences in the ability to obtain education. According to Creighton (n.d.), these factors can be divided into four types. These four types are personal factors, involvement factors, environmental factors and the socio-cultural factors (Creighton, n.d.). These factors are discussed below: Personal factors include pre-college characteristics or background variables that vary from one student to another. Personal factors give explanation for the patterns of students’ adjustment in college. These factors include but are not limited to scores in tests, grade point average (GPA), the students’ academic self concept, availability of finances and support from the family. The traditional measurements of a student’s academic performance have long remained the criterion for admission into college. Such scales include the student’s GPA in high school studies and the score he/she gains in the college entry test. The level to which a student would be successful in the college is estimated on the basis of his/her performance in high school. According to Lesure-Lester (2003), â€Å"there is evidence that indicates test scores may not predict early college grades for Hispanic students as well as it does for White students† (Creighton, n.d.). The involvement of students in the campus community has a positive impact on their ability to learn. Involvement factors include the interaction of students with mentors, role of teachers, and their participation in the activities of students. The Environmental theory offers explanation for the association of a student with the environment in campus. Behavior of a student is heavily influenced by the environment of the institution. In a vast majority of cases, students tend to be discouraged because of the existence of oppressive factors in the environment. Such factors include racism, bullying, teasing and threatening. As Latino students form a minority in the US, they are prone to receiving racism by their peers

Realistic nursing care plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Realistic nursing care plan - Essay Example He is peripherally cyanosed and very anxious. To be able to provide a realistic nursing care plan on the above-mentioned case, it is first necessary to add a little more information that may help us focus on the type of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) that Mr. Percy Jones might be suffering. Before moving on, it is imperative at this point to define what CODP is. CODP is generally defined by the Manual of Nursing Practice (2001, p. 294) as "a term that refers to a group of conditions characterized by continued increased resistance to expiratory airflow." Marieb (2002, p. 403) further gives us features that are common among CODP patients, and these are as follows: patients almost always have a history of smoking; dyspnea occurs and becomes progressively more severe; coughing and frequent pulmonary infections are common; and most CODP victims are hypoxic, retain carbon dioxide and have respiratory acidosis, and ultimately develop respiratory failure. Generally, CODP may either be chronic bronchitis or emphysema. Chronic bronchitis is characterized by severe inflammation of the mucosa of the lower respiratory passages, coupled with the excessive production of mucus (Marieb, 2002, p. 403) which results in the presence of "cough and sputum production for at least a combined total of three months in each of two consecutive years" (Smeltzer and Bar e 2004, p. 569). Emphysema, on the other hand, is a disease that "affects the airways characterized by the destruction of the walls of overdistended alveoli" (Smeltzer and Bare 2004, p. 569). We shall elaborate on emphysema in a short while. The case clearly alludes to a type of CODP that stems directly from too much exposure to mining dusts. Though most CODP cases are due to cigarette smoking or passing smoking, Mr. Jones' illness differs from the majority as to the main cause and probable coincidence of the different types of CODP. Though complications and the occurrence of two types of CODP is a possibility, allow me to narrow down Mr. Jones' CODP type based on the facts that are given. According to a study by Cogon and Taylor (1998, p. 406), miners, due to dust exposure, are prone to centrilobular emphysema, especially in the presence of pneumoconiosis. Emphysema, as must be recalled, is a progressive COPD condition where the walls of the alveoli are destroyed due to recurrent infection. Such results in the enlargement of dead space in the lungs which leads to hypoxemia, and in worse cases, hypercapnia (which, in turn, may lead to other complications) (Smeltzer and Bare, 2004, p. 570). Emphysema, in turn, may either be panlobular or centrilobular. Again, both types of emphysema may exist in one patient, the main difference between the two are as follows: panlobular emphysema, there is the destruction of the bronchiole, alveolar duct, and alveoli such that all air spaces within the lobule are essentially enlarged, but there is little inflammatory disease (Smeltzer and Bare 2004, p. 570); in centrilobular emphysema, what is affected are the proximal aspects of the lu ng acinus, primarily the area of the respiratory bronchioles (RadioWiki 2005), though, alveolar ducts in the proximal and middle portion of the pulmonary module may be destroyed in gross cases, resulting in holes or emphysematous spaces (Daroca