Death Essays (1395 words) - English-language Films, Films, Neo-noir

Death Death: Good for the Dead, Bad for the Dying, and Worse for Those It Leaves Behind My whole life, death has been a distant thing to me. It is not even really a thing, but more of an idea. I have heard about death millions of times with the media. Everyday in the news, people are dying left and right with disease in the foreign countries, famine in distant lands, and even murder in the suburbs. I even heard about it a few times from my friends when they told me about their recent loses. With all of these stories of tragedy and awful accidents, I never felt any emotion. The news reporter's sympathy for these victims was not convincing enough to make me think that something tragic had happened, or my elementary school friend did not understand the situation himself in order to feel pain. If something was truly awful about the story, it was too far away for me to consider it a reality. When I was about eight years old, I experienced the first death in my family. My father's sister had died and my he got a call soon after. I was in the room when the phone rang and my dad answered the phone. He first sounded excited to hear the voice on the other end, but that happiness soon turned to devastation. His only sister had passed away and he began to cry. My father is not a crying man, and he soon regained his composure and finished the conversation. He was able to put his sadness aside and tend to business. This was a very small event, but it had a large impact on me and helped shape my ideas about the idea of death. The way that I saw my father handle this so-called tragedy gave me the impression that life was almost like a movie. What goes on in the movie might be sad or scary or whatever, but it is not a big deal. We just need to get over the emotion because the movie is still playing and something different is happening now. The reason that this event was not a traged y to me is that it was extremely distant from me and in reality, it had very little to do with me. My aunt lived very far away from my home, so we rarely visited and I have no memories of her except for a very fuzzy mental picture. We did not attend the funeral because of the distance, but my father flew to pay his last respects to his sister. He was gone for a couple of days and was a little shaky when he returned, but all-in-all things were just like normal. Moral of the story: Death is a small speed bump, which should not be adjusted for, but should not be a big deal. When death occurs in a person's life, they put down what they are doing and tend to the matter, they come back to continue their business, and make like normal. They, with good reason, take off of school or work. They make up for the things that they missed and everything is fine again. They do not want to bring their emotions because they do not want to show their pain to others. They repress their feelings for the benefit of others. When I see this, I see a person who has experienced this thing called death, but they are not sad. This just reinforces the ideas that I have made for myself about death and its place in life. About four years ago, I had my first realization of the power of death. This was a slight taste of what death really meant, but it came at a huge cost for others. It all started one day in the middle of summer. I was downstairs watching the television while my older sister and her friend were hanging out upstairs. We all heard a few pops that sounded a lot like small firecrackers that came from outside. I disregarded this noise as neighborhood children messing around, but my sister and her friend went outside to investigate. The sight that they found would change their lives. On

Phonics Definition and Examples in English

Phonics Definition and Examples in English A method of teaching reading based on the sounds of letters, groups of letters, and syllables  is known as phonics. This method of teaching reading is commonly contrasted with whole language approaches, which emphasize learning whole words in meaningful contexts. During the 19th century, phonics was commonly used as a synonym for phonetics. In the 20th century, phonics acquired its present meaning as a method of teaching reading. In practice,  phonics  refers to several different but generally overlapping methods of instruction. Four of those methods are summarized below. Analytic(al) Phonics During the 1960s, numerous basal reading series included a manual outlining how to teach each story. The manual included a program for ​analytical phonics instruction that recommended that the teacher use known words and ask children to analyze the phonetic elements in these words. . . .Analytic phonics relies on readers knowing a large number of words at sight. Drawing from known sight words, teachers directed students to make inferences about the phonic relationships within words containing the same letter combinations. In other words, the student matched the sounds in a known word with the sounds in the new word (Walker, 2008). . . .However, in the 1960s, some reading programs differed from the mainstream basal readers that used analytic phonics. A few basal readers included instruction using linguistic units that had recurring patterns. The linguistic-phonics system used the idea that the English language had recurring written patterns that were systematic to develop their program.(Barbara J. Walker, History of Phonics Instruction. An Essential History of Current Reading Practices, ed. by Mary Jo Fresch. International Reading Association, 2008) Linguistic Phonics In linguistic phonics, beginning instruction usually focuses on the word patterns found in words like cat, rat, mat, and bat. These selected words are presented to the students. Children need to make generalizations about the short a sound by learning these words in print. Consequently, linguistic phonics lessons are based on decodable books that present repetitions of a single pattern (Mat saw a cat and a rat). . . . Linguistic phonics . . . is like analytic phonics in that it emphasizes word patterns rather than individual letter sounds. However, linguistic phonics is not typically espoused by top-down advocates, because it does not emphasize naturally occurring text.(Ann Maria Pazos Rago, The Alphabetic Principle, Phonics, and Spelling: Teaching Students the Code. Reading Assessment and Instruction for All Learners, ed. by Jeanne Shay Schumm. Guilford Press, 2006) Synthetic Phonics The sounding-out-and-blending approach to decoding is known as synthetic phonics. In a synthetic phonics program, students are taught to decode new words by retrieving from memory the sound that each letter, or combination of letters, in a word represents and blending the sounds into a recognizable word (National Reading Panel, 2000). It is a parts-to-whole approach (Strickland, 1998).(Irene W. Gaskins, Interventions to Develop Decoding Proficiencies. Handbook of Reading Disability Research, ed. by Richa Allington and Anne McGill-Franzen. Routledge, 2011) Embedded Phonics Embedded approaches to teaching  phonics involve students in learning phonics skills by reading authentic texts. This approach may be compared to whole language; however, embedded phonics involves planned skills taught within the context of authentic literature. Embedded phonics formed in response to the intense criticism experienced by the whole language movement, and highlights the role of phonics instructions within the context of authentic literature. (Mark-Kate Sableski, Phonics. Encyclopedia of Educational Reform and Dissent, ed. by Thomas C. Hunt, James Carper, Thomas J. Lasley, and C. Daniel Raisch. Sage, 2010) Summary In summary, deep and thorough knowledge of letters, spelling patterns, and words, and of the phonological translations of all three, are of inescapable importance to both skillful reading and its acquisition. By extension, instruction designed to develop childrens sensitivity to spellings and their reactions to pronunciations should be of paramount importance in the development of reading skills. This is, of course, precisely what is intended of good phonic instruction.(Marilyn Jager Adams, Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning About Print. MIT Press, 1994)

Entrepreneurship joint venture Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Entrepreneurship joint venture - Assignment Example Contents Abstract 1 Contents 2 Introduction 3 Importance of venture and Working capital 4 Forms of business finance 4 Advantages and disadvantages of Venture Capital as source of finance 5 Salient issues around venture capitalists 6 Conclusion and recommendations 7 References 7 Introduction Venture capital is a form of financing that is widely used by small, medium, and large enterprises in economy. Venture capital is also referred to as equity financing owing to the fact that it addresses the financing needs of a firm in exchange of stake in the firm in question. This form of equity financing is often pursued by firms, which do not have the capacity to seek financing from other traditional financing modes like those sourced through the banks and public markets. It is worth noting that there are other forms of financing options, which the business can decide to explore to cater for its growth strategy and other operations (Mclaney & Atrill, 2006). Such options include loans from bank s, debentures, owner’s capital, and grant finance. Importance of venture and Working capital Venture and working capital are critical for any form of business that is starting up. The business under focus in this case is a beverage company known as Thasta (Mclaney & Atrill, 2006). The company by its nature needs both venture and working capital to realize increased business performance. ... sound working capital, it is important that the business possess an aggressive credit policy besides ensuring that there is operational efficiency at the facility (Mclaney & Atrill, 2006). On the other hand, it is important to take note that venture capital is equally important for the startup of the business because it does not affect the liquidity of a business. A business that is just starting operations rarely has revenue hence may not be able to afford loans or debenture leaving venture capital option as the best option for the company since it does not involve any financial obligations. It is worth noting that with regard to venture capital the various operations and projects of the company are financed in exchange for the shares of the company. Forms of business finance Apart from the venture capital, there exist other forms of capital, which include loans, debentures, owner’s capital, and grants. Loans are funds, which are advanced to the business by financial institut ions such as Banks. According to Mclaney and Atrill (2006), it is worth noting that loans attract interest over and above the principal amount. The business must therefore ensure that it regularly repays the principal amount and accruing interest. A debenture is yet another form of business financing option, which is available to the business. According to Mclaney and Atrill (2006), debentures are loan stocks, which are given subject to a trust deed. The debentures can be either redeemable or irredeemable. The firms can also raise capital for the expansion projects of the firm through equity shares. The only downside to equity shares is that it reduces the shareholding capacity of the company. Mclaney and Atrill (2006) say that grant is another form of financing option, which the firm can

Public Relations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Public Relations - Essay Example Corporate social responsibility will always be given the emphasis that it richly deserves because it makes or breaks an organization in the sheer sense of the word1. To start with, public relations aim to focus on the aspect of building credibility for the sake of the organization in the eyes of the publics so that they can think, act and feel positive about the organization, the individual or an entity for that matter. The public relations are usually given importance because the organizations know that they will be able to derive a great amount of mileage from the intended publics as they aim to touch upon new avenues and explore the novel pathways upon which these publics can be reached in essence. What is most important is the fact that ethical manifestations start making the rounds of the discussions which center on the premise of public relations and the related corporate social responsibility2. ... Since public relations are all about understanding how the organization should be viewed by the public in terms of its important dealings, it will never afford to have a negative word about its own self. The role of public relations within the corporate social responsibility ranks is all the more necessary to gain an insight from. This is because public relations have always been forthright about the organization’s corrective stance no matter how difficult it is to reveal to the varied publics. This gains importance with the changing times since people are now properly realizing how they must be treated at the hands of these organizations and what kind of attitudes rule the roost at the end of the day. Public relations will always assist in building up a corporate social responsibility understanding as it takes care of the problems which arise every now and then, and assures one of complete responsibility and commitment to an organizational cause. The role of the public relati ons at improving and enhancing the levels of corporate social responsibility should be such that there is empathy within the related ranks, and this shall mean success for the organizations in the long run. If corporate social responsibility understandings are properly managed, then this would immense success for the organization because these are run parallel with the public relations domains4. The management regimes of the organizations always look at addressing the grey areas so that these weaknesses could be plugged and turned into strengths in a very free flowing manner5. Since the corporate social responsibility measures take care of the ethical look of the organization and thus it creates harmony amongst the aegis of the organization, it would always

The Story of an Hour Kate Chopin

The Story of an Hour Kate Chopin The early 1900s was an era where society inflicted standards that suppressed women mentally and physically. From birth, women had to overcome many cultural and societal boundaries because of their gender such as being told how to converse and clothe, and even who to marry. Women in those times lacked many rights such as freedom of speech, the right to an education, and skills that would help them become employed. Every stage of their lives was controlled by a male figure, starting with their fathers from birth to their husbands during marriage. Unfortunately, a womans ideal role for men was to perform domestic duties inside the house and other duties such as sexual deeds; a womans voice and concerns were never considered priority nor were given respect. The stories of â€Å"The Story of an Hour†, by Kate Chopin and â€Å"The Girls in Their Summer Dresses†, by Irwin Shaw, expose a dominating attitude towards women and illustrate how they could be trapped in unsatisfying marriages because of their husbands thoughtlessness, exploitation, and domination. The protagonists in these stories have accepted their roles in their marriages by being passive spouses. Kate Chopins â€Å"The Story of an Hour†, is a story regarding a woman, Mrs. Mallard, who is trapped in a suppressing marriage and dreadfully wants to escape. This story describes an hour of freedom that has been given to her. Although a very short story, it seems like every sentence has an intense significance and meaning to it that makes the reader think in depth. Even though her husbands full name is given to the readers, â€Å"Brently Mallard†, she is only referred to as â€Å"Mrs. Mallard†, giving the hint of the oppression she had to go through and the degradation society enforced upon women in that time period. Mrs. Mallard, the protagonist of the story is troubled by her heart condition and is oppressed by her husband who loves her and does not want to purposely suppress authority, but sadly, it was the society that built the peoples personality and character, and set the standards in the nineteenth century. Interestingly enough, Chopin uses the techniqu e of foreshadowing in the first sentence of the story indicating the readers that something terrible is bound to happen to Mrs. Mallard, perhaps a heart affiliated problem. The quote,†Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husbands death.†(Chopin 1) misinforms readers in to believing that everything will be fine. Irony could be noticed from the way Mrs. Mallard acts in response to her husbands death. Normally when a widow is informed about their spouses death, they become sad and express their grief; however, when Mrs. Mallard heard the awful news from her sister Josephine, she accepted it and proceeded to her room where she could be alone. This allowed the reader to adopt a similar prospective through her point of view, a new life and a chance to live oppression free. When she proceeds to her room, she sits down on a roomy, comfortable arm chair facing the open window. The reader should instantly inquire the use of the term â€Å"Comfortable† (Chopin 1), and question the fact that she is not miserable. While looking outside the window, she observed nature carefully symbolizing her excitement for a new life. The quote, â€Å"She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life†¦ the delicious breath of rain was in the air†¦ the notes of distant song†¦ countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves†¦patches of the blue sky showing here and there through the clouds† (Chopin 1) describes this scene adequately. At this point of the story the reader is puzzled by Chopins use of foreshadowing whether she is sad at all due to her observance of all the beautiful aspects of nature. While fantasizing about her new life, it seemed like her conscious was trying to put a stop to her happiness, leading her to realize that she was loved by her husband even though he was s uppressive time to time, his intentions were good; however, Chopin was trying to tell the readers she had only loved him time to time and that most of the time she had no love for him, as this quote describes, â€Å"And yet she had loved him-sometimes. Often, she had not.† (Chopin 2). Chopin confuses the reader by using another method of foreshadowing making the ending even more surprising, â€Å"She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long.† (Chopin 2), and that she considers herself to be a â€Å"Goddess of victory† (Chopin 2). Chopin uses an ironic ending for her story when Mrs. Mallard is surprised to death when her husband enters the house looking perfectly healthy without even knowing the accident took place. The paradox prolongs when the readers find out that she dies due to heart disease caused by joy. Earlier when she heard the agonizing news of her husbands death, she was fairly pleased of the idea of being free, having no authority figure gover ning her life; however, she was not eager to go through that life again, causing her to die once she saw her husband alive. Irwin Shaws, â€Å"The Girls in Their Summer Dresses†, depicts a couple whose marriage is in jeopardy due to the husbands lack of consideration for his wifes feelings. The story starts with the protagonist of the story, Frances, and her husband, Michael, enjoying a walk on a Sunday afternoon in New York City, part of Francess plans to spend the whole day alone with her husband as deliberated initially. While walking down the street, Frances caught her husband checking out a pretty girl who leads her to protest against it, â€Å"Shes not so pretty†¦Anyway, not pretty enough to take a chance breaking your neck looking at her.†(Shaw 1). When confronted of his actions, Michael carelessly replies, â€Å"I look at everything†¦I look at women and men†¦I casually inspect the universe.† (Shaw 2). This statement provides the readers with an idea of Michaels character who is the dominating figure in the story, who is lacking respect for his wife and is explo iting her weakness of not ending their relationship. Divorce was uncommon in the early 1900s even when men commit adultery. Francess feelings were depicted well as the author wrote, â€Å"She began to cry†¦someday youre going to make a move†¦Michael didnt say anything. He sat watching the bartender slowly peel a lemon.† (Shaw 4). Irrationally, Michael lets Frances know that â€Å"Sometimes I [Michael] would like to be free† (Shaw 4), and that eventually one day hell â€Å"make a move† (Shaw 4). Unfortunately, Michael treated women as objects who were merely around to perform sexual favours, he even depicted his wife as a sexual object when they arrived at a bar for some drinks, as this quote describes, â€Å"She got up from the table and walked across the room†¦Michael watched her walk, thinking, what a pretty girl, what nice legs.† (Shaw 4). Interestingly enough, Michael turns everything around by stating â€Å"Its a nice day and we both feel good and theres no reason why we have to break it up.† (Shaw 4), by declaring this, Michael blames the fact that their day is turning out to be unpleasant on Frances, and due to her has low self-esteem and insecurity, she accepts the claim by saying, â€Å"All right. I dont know why I started this. Lets drop it. Lets have a good time.† (Shaw 2). By stating this, Frances portrayed herself to be a submissive individual; meanwhile, Michael was careless and disrespectful. Throughout the nineteenth century, a womans purpose was merely based on performing domestic duties in their homes, and they did not contribute to the household income in any way. Women were dishonoured and exploited by men to a point that they were simply degraded to a childs level in society. Excessive male dominance and authority guided countless women getting the sensation of feeling trapped in their household, incapable to flee from the imprisonment enforced upon them by their spouses. The stories, â€Å"The Story of an Hour†, and â€Å"The Girls in Their Summer Dresses†, both depict tolerable house wives who are dominated and exploited by their husbands and have acquiesced to their role in their relationship and are submissive individuals who do not rise up and rebel against their husbands. These stories truthfully exemplify how women in the 19th century had to accept their husbands for who they were, and did not have many alternatives other than accepting to live with the repression until death did them apart.

Research Proposal Outline Essay

Research Proposal Outline Literature Review a. What was the topic of your literature review? Media violence and its effects on children In 1 paragraph, review the overall findings in this field, based on your literature review.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Large numbers of studies have suggested the media violence has bad effect on child’s psychological development.   The media can be used as an effective tool in teaching & developing sound habits in children through parental guidance & proper planning of the medium’s people. Parents need to satisfy the child’s confusion regarding fantasies shown on TV so they can learn to critique what they view. â€Å"According to the Office of the Surgeon General, children are theoretically more susceptible to behavioral influences when they are active participants than when they are observers.†( cited in Education Encyclopedia, 2007) Children associate themselves easily to a character they see on TV. A discussion with 8-10 year olds about who they wanted to be like, perceived that they are most influenced by unrealistic characters who are portrayed as braver & stronger than real people. Unfortunately, this fact was augmented for negative characters than positive ones.    Anxieties resulting from excessive violence viewing can pilot physical ailments in children & adults alike. The September 11th events were highlighted by the media; preschoolers reacted to the situation by showing emotional distress over the blood & bodies showed on national TV, elementary school students created ideas of their own & feeling scared for their own family’s wellbeing by watching the attack. Teenagers were most concerned for the victims & realized the effects of the calamity. Research Design Issues a. What is your research question?   What are the effects of media violence on child’s psychological development? What are your hypotheses? Violence shown in media can have bad affect on child’s psychological development and can result in various psychological problems and social problems.   Ã‚   Advertising &entertainment industries are a booming business but it can be used to incorporate positive information to the masses. It represents the culture & spirit of the respective country to the rest of the world & must not be used casually. Parents & teachers should come up with strategies to create a sense of understanding in the children from an early age.   The parents should realize what effects the movies & content on TV are having on their children & try to minimize TV viewing at home level. Some ways that may be incorporated by parents to limit children’s revelation to violence are: Restricting & keeping a check on what their children view on TV Discussing the programs with older children or young adults to clear their minds of any confusion & help them in expressing their opinions. Start a family oriented time by going for picnics, organizing a special lunch or dinner. Allow the children to watch TV for a selected time period & only programs that are desirable for their viewing. Offer criticism on TV channels & sponsors for showing in appropriate programs or content so as to force them to use proper censorship. What kind of research design will you use? (Include the aspects of research design discussed in class). Aka longitudinal, cross-sectional, etc†¦ We would prefer a longitudinal research design. Participants a. What kind of participants will be in your study (ages, gender, ethnicity, SES, other important characteristics)? The study will be done on children of age between 5-12 of both sexes and parents of age between 30-50 years of any ethnicity. How would you characterize this sample (ex. Representative, oversampling, within-group)? The sample is within-group. How many participants (if there are 2 or more groups-how many in each group)? Two groups of children and one group of parents and one group of teachers will be formed. Group A and A1 will be of children and group B will be of parents, and group B1 will be of teachers. Children group will have 48 participants and parents group will have 44 participants. Group A will be the group of normal children, while Group A1 of those with violent attitude and behavior. How will you recruit your participants (if there are 2 or more groups, describe for each group)? We’ll contact schools and talk with the administration to allow us take surveys from children and teachers. Children will be asked several questions regarding their activities at home and school. Teachers will be asked about the performance and behavior of students at school. What will you control for if you have more than 1 group of participants? Control group will include those children who have normal attitude and behavior and do not suffer from any psychological or social problem. Measures a. List the variables you will measure.   (Be specific and use your hypotheses as a guide.) Variables Number/name of violent movies viewed Number/name of cartoons viewed per day Number/name of shows viewed per day How will you measure these variables? (Give specific names of measures, or if you are developing your own measure, briefly describe it). Statistics ANOVA will be used to measure variables. State which participants will complete which measures (ex. Parents will fill out the Child Behavior Checklist; children will be observed in the Strange Situation). Children will be asked about their activities at home and school and the number of movies, shows and cartoons they watch per day. Parents will be asked about child’s behavior at home and social meetings. Teachers will be asked about child’s behavior at school and performance in studies. Procedures a. Describe your interview procedures (when, where, and how).   If you are doing a longitudinal study, you need to describe this for each assessment period. Assessment period of 4 months Three different questionnaires will be prepared for each group, children, parents and teachers. Interviews will be conducted at school in the afternoon for children and evening for teachers after they are free from class teaching. Are you compensating your participants? If so, how much? If you are doing a longitudinal study, you need to describe this for each time period. Gifts will be distributed among children after they take survey and give true information. For each survey gifts will be presented. If you are doing a longitudinal study, you need to describe how you will track your participants between assessment periods. Each participants contact number will be taken on first consent of participating in the study. Each participant will be provided with one telephone and mobile number of the research for easy contact and communication.

Comfort Theory Essay

In my nursing practice with long term care residents, I frequently care for dying residents. Instead of simply providing these patients with medication to ease the pain, I wanted to learn about ways to enhance the comfort of the dying patient and assist their beloved family throughout the difficult process. This desire led me to undertake a concept analysis of comfort. Through my research at the end of life, I discovered Katharine Kolcaba’s theory of comfort. I found her theory to be usefully in describing the concept of comfort care and decided to further analyze her theory and portray its use in the nursing practice. Katharine Kolcaba was born on December 8, 1944 in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1965, she graduated from St. Luke’s Hospital School of Nursing and started her nursing career. Even at that time, Katharine had interests in the developing of nursing profession. Particularly, she strived to understand how to implicate nursing in gerontology correctly. Early years of her career were the time of establishment and development of Kolcaba as a theorist. She studied a great number of early theory works and began to apply this knowledge at her work place. In 1997, she had her next achievements such as earning of Ph.D. in nursing, and receiving of a Certificate of Authority as a Clinical Nursing Specialist. This year Katharine also received the Marie Haug Student Award for being excellent student in Aging Studies. This award was from her native Case Western Reserve University. Kolcaba’s specialist field consisted of comfort studies, nursing theory, and nursing research. Nevertheless, the special place in that list took gerontology and the end of life. From that time, she especially concentrated on research and development in gerontology. The next professional level was the teaching. In 1987, Katharine Kolcaba started Bachelor’s program of Nursing, which specialized on gerontology. It was a starting point of developing her concepts of nursing. At that time,† she developed her propositions about comfort with specific attention on end-of-life and palliative care with focus on gerontology as an emerging specialty in nursing† (Nursing Theories, 2012). As a result, Katharine published Comfort Theory and Practice: a Vision for Holistic Health Care and Research in 1999. She continued teaching in  University and developed her theory. In 2003, the publishing of the Comfort Theory and Practice: A vision for Holistic Health Care became a great result of the hard work. In the same year, Midwest Nursing Research Society rewarded Katharine Kolcaba with the Advancement of Science Award for her work End of Life and Palliative Care Nursing. Then, she took part in co-writing of article published in Anesthesia Nursing. In 2005 she received Second Place Award in the Best Practice Category by the American Society. According to Kolcaba (2003): Katharine Kolcaba first b egan â€Å"theorizing about the outcome of comfort† (Kolcaba, 2003) while working on a dementia unit as a head nurse and pursuing her Master’s of Science in Nursing at Case Western Reserve University. She further yet continued her research while pursuing her doctoral degree which she ended up completing in 1997. Her interest was sparked by her understanding that comfort was a necessary component for optimum function in the patients she cared for on the dementia unit. With the patients being largely non-verbal, the nurses were required to interpret the patient’s actions to determine what may be causing discomfort in a patient, thus leading to disruptive behaviors. From this assessment it was possible to implement care plans to treat underlying issues or enhance patient comfort leading to improved patient care. Her work produced numerous articles and a book describing the theory of comfort, its assumptions, the major concepts and their relationships, techniques for measuring comfort in a variety of environments, and discussions for the theory’s application in nursing practice. An overview of this will be presented. First, it is important to understand what comfort is i n Kolcaba’s terms. Historically, Florence Nightingale spoke of comfort when she stated that â€Å"it must never be lost sight of what observation is for. It is not for the sake of piling up miscellaneous information or curious facts, but for the sake of saving life and increasing health and comfort† (Peterson & Bredow, 2004). Comfort is also referred to by many major nursing theorists including Orlando, Roy, Watson, Henderson, Paterson, and Zderad, but no one sought to understand the nature of comfort itself. Kolcaba undertook this effort when she performed her analysis of the concept of comfort. In her analysis, Kolcaba described two dimensions. â€Å"The first dimension of comfort consists of three states, called relief, ease and transcendence† (Kolcaba, 1994). â€Å"The second dimension of comfort is the contexts in which comfort can occur†¦which are  derived from the nursing literature about holism† (Kolcaba, 1994). The definitions of the three states of comfort are presented next. Kolcaba derived her three states of comfort from other nursing theorists. Orlando originally spoke of relief stating that â €Å"nursing actions should be designed to meet the physical and mental needs of patients and it focuses on how the nurse deciphers what the patient’s needs are† (Kolcaba, 1991). Ultimately, Kolcaba defined relief as â€Å"when the patient is capable or if comfort provides respite from the stress and anguish of disease, debilitation or injury.† The second state of comfort, ease, is defined as â€Å"an enduring stated of peaceful contentment. Henderson originally spoke of the concept of ease when she stated that â€Å"only after a discomfort is relieved can the patient proceed to recovery† (Kolcaba, 1991). Finally, of renewal or transcendence, Kolcaba wrote that it â€Å"implies enhanced powers, strengthened motivation, and positive attitudes and outlooks for meeting the life challenges normal for that person† or â€Å"the state in which one rises above problems or pain† (Kolcaba, 1991). This was developed from Paterson and Zderads’s statement that â€Å"comfort is the state in which the patient is free to be and become controlling and planning one’s own destiny.† After gaining understanding of the three states of comfort, it is necessary to discuss the four contexts in within which they occur. The four concepts are physical, psychospiritual, environmental, and sociocultural. The first context comfort can occur in is physical. Kolcaba defined the physical context as â€Å"pertaining to bodily sensations.† The phsycopspiritual context was defined as â€Å"pertaining to the internal awareness of self, including esteem, concept, sexuality and meaning in one’s life; it can also encompass one’s relationship to a higher order or being.† The third context, sociocultural was defined as â€Å"pertaining to the external background of human experience; encompasses light, noise, ambience, color, temperature and natural versus synthetic elements.† While most would think of comfort as a strictly physical experience with only one possible outcome, Kolcaba believed it was important to stress that comfort encompassed a variety of states and contexts that were necessary to consider when ensuring the best patient outcomes. To best depict the relationship between them, she developed a grid in her taxonomic structure of comfort that helped t o further define her ideas. A discussion of the major concepts in the theory is presented next. There are seven major concepts presented by Kolcaba in her theory of comfort. These concepts are health care needs, nursing interventions, intervening variables, patient comfort, health-seeking behaviors, institutional integrity and institutional outcomes. She defines health care needs as â€Å"needs that arise for patients in stressful health care situations (Kolcaba, 2001). Intervening variables are those things â€Å"that will affect the outcomes† and she describes patient comfort as â€Å"the immediate state of being strengthened by having needs met.† Health seeking behaviors are defined as â€Å"patient actions of which they may or may not be aware and which may or may not be observed that are predictor or indicators of improved health† (Kolcaba, 2001). Institutional integrity is defined as â€Å"the quality or state of health care organizations† (Kolcaba, 2003). Finally, she described institutional outcomes as â€Å"decreased lengths of stay, successful discharges, and improved public relations when patients and families are happy with their health care† (Kolcaba, 2001), which for hospital administrators is the ultimate goal when comfort is a key nursing consideration. With the key concepts identified and defined, their relationship to one another needs to be understood. Kolcaba clearly described the relationship between her major concepts when she stated her positions in theory of comfort: Nurses identify patients’ comfort needs that have not been met by existing support systems. Nurses design interventions to address those needs. Intervening variables are taken into account in designing interventions and mutually agreeing on reasonable immediate and/or subsequent health-seeking behavior outcomes. If enhanced comfort in achieved, patients are strengthened to engage in health-seeking behaviors. When patients engage in health seeking behaviors as a result of being strengthened by comforting actions, nurses and patients are more satisfied with their health care. When patients are satisfied with their health care in a specific situation, that institution retains its integrity. The last relationship, not defined explicitly by Kolcaba, is that institutional outcomes are direct result of understanding and addressing a patients comfort needs. Finally, before an analysis of the theory of comfort can be completed, it is necessary to understand the major assumptions made by Kolcaba when developing her theory. According to Kolcaba, those assumptions underpinning her theory of comfort are as follows. Human beings have holistic responses to complex stimuli. Comfort is a desirable holistic outcome that is germane to the discipline of nursing. Human beings strive to meet, or have to meet, their basic comfort needs; it is an active endeavor. Institutional integrity has a normative and descriptive component that is based on a patient-oriented value system. The theory of comfort is referred to as a middle range theory. Whall compares middle range theories with grand theories and states that middle range theories â€Å"contain fewer concepts and relationships, are adaptable to a wide range of practice and experience, can be built from many sources, and are concrete enough to be tested† (Kolcaba, 2001). Given this description, the theory of comfort can be readily identified as a middle range theory. With regard to the concepts presented by Kolcaba, they are clearly defined and the relationship between them are easily understood. The concepts are generalized and measurable through the development of numerous measurement tools designed fo r specific environments. The theory itself had been applied in a number of different environments including hospice, perioperative, radiation therapy and general care areas. Questionnaires to test the theory of comfort have been developed for each of these areas and successfully tested and employed. The scope of the theory is narrow and stands at a low level of abstraction. Most importantly, the theory is readily applicable to the nursing discipline and provide a clear framework relevant to meeting patient’s needs during a stressful life event. It allows the nurse to define, with input from the patient, what their needs are within the four contexts, to address those needs with nursing interventions, to evaluate the success or failure of those interventions and to continue in a cyclic manner until the patient achieves a state of comfort. In essence, the framework provides a process model for nursing that is specific to comfort and precise. It is easy for a nurse to use and understand and can be applied in many environments. In evaluating and analyzing the theory of comfort, numerous research possibilities come to mind. Given my specific interest in end of life care, it is important to understand that the nurse is focused not only on the comfort of the patient but also on that of the families and caregivers of the dying patient. While one would think of health-seeking  behaviors to be focused on cure or rehabilitation, they can also be used to aid in a more peaceful or comfortable death. Therefore, a study that evaluated the level of comfort experienced by the patient and family members with and without direct care provided by the family members could be undertaken. The study would seek to determine whether less medical intervention is required to ensure patient comfort during the dying process if there is increased family involvement in care. This nurse would hypothesize that, in measuring patient comfort, less medical intervention would be required to maintain an acceptable level of comfort in death if family members have greater involvement in providing care. Conversely, another possible study could involve family member comfort and ask if family members have an increased level of comfort with greater involvement in patient care during the period proceeding death. The sample population for both studies would by dying patients and their family members. To measure family member comfort, data could be collected utilizing a likert-scale questionnaire. To measure patient comfort, and questionnaire could be developed for those patients that are able to verbalize or the nurse could be given a list of objective signs and symptoms of comfort to evaluate in order to determine patient comfort. Kolcaba’s work has led to a universal theory applicable to all areas of nursing. She has captured the quintessential essence of nursing in a simple and structured framework. Use of her framework in practice can lead to improved patient experiences in one of the most important outcomes of nursing practice, patient comfort. References Kolcaba, Katharine (2001). Evolution of the mid range theory of comfort for outcomes research. Nursing Outlook, 49(2), 86-92 Kolcaba, Katharine (1991B). An analysis of the concept of comfort. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 16, 1301-1310 Kolcaba, Katharine (1991A). A taxonomic structure for the concept of comfort. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 23(4), 237-240 Kolcaba, Katherine (1994). A theory of holistic comfort for nursing. Journal of Advance Nursing, 19, 1178-1184 Kolcaba, Katherine (2003). Comfort theory and practice: A Vision for Holistic Health Care and Research. New York: Springer Publishing Company, Inc. Peterson, S.J., & Bredow, T.S. (2004). Comfort. In Middle Ranger Theories: Application to Nursing Research (pp. 255-273). Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins