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This empirical article presents student affairs and services practitioners' perceptions regarding the sense of accomplishment they feel in their job. Results show helping students, collaborating among colleagues, contributing positively to a broader community, and the autonomous and engaging nature of the work itself provided SAS staff across countries and regions with a sense of accomplishment. Authors discuss findings in terms of supporting SAS practitioners in light of changes globally in higher education's expectations and culture.

This paper examines students' experiences as a post disaster response in the Caribbean. The examination of reports of graduate Psychology and Social Work students, a Social Work Practitioner and programme staff of the Dominica Social Welfare Division who were involved in the University of the West Indies' (UWI) Service-Learning programme, the Caribbean Internship Programme (CIP), provides critical considerations for service-learning as a model to be utilised in the future. The study revealed the following: (1) the experience of severe hazardous events has redefined the types of support needs of the Dominica Social Welfare Division. This will impact the nature of the partnership between the Division and the UWI/CIP; (2) grassroots community-based agency prompts the propensity for mutual support and regional integration; (3) pre-disaster preparation dynamics must be understood for there to be effective post disaster recovery responses; and (4) the need for greater collaboration in revising the social work programme curriculum to meet the changing needs of organisations facilitating service-learning.

Many teachers in developed countries have integrated the use of computers into their classrooms; however, the digital divide has limited this integration in developing countries such as those in the Caribbean. Through a combination of questionnaires and interviews, Dominican primary school teachers' attitudes toward computers; their computer-based activities; and the challenges that reduced the frequency of computer use in their classrooms; were queried. Significant differences in computer enjoyment and computer anxiety between young and mature teachers were reported. Although teachers were willing to use computers in their classrooms, challenges such as a lack of resources, limited support and insufficient training prevented more extensive use. Nevertheless, teachers were able to create tests and presentations using word processing and presentation software. This research improves the understanding of teachers' attitudes toward technology in developing countries and recommends strategies to overcome barriers to classroom technology integration.

Regional scholars in the Caribbean context have long advocated for quality early childhood education. The majority of their contributions however, focus primarily on curriculum, policy, and to a lesser extent, teaching practices. In this article, we broaden the scope of extant literature by conceptualizing a model for Caribbean early childhood education, one which draws on and supports an anti-colonial and decolonizing perspective. Specifically, we interrogate the enduring legacy of colonialism on teaching and learning practices--and illustrate how these manifest in contemporary schooling processes. Equally significant, we examine and critique underlying epistemologies that frame current regional approaches, and offer an alternative framework that accents cultural knowledges in curriculum, pedagogy and teacher education. In response, we foreground childhood decolonization as integral to the development of positive racial and cultural identity, and in such vein, offer curricula, pedagogical and institutional (i.e., teacher education) suggestions consonant with an anti-colonial and decolonizing approach to early childhood education in the English-speaking Caribbean.

This article reports on research that took place over two academic years (September 2013-April 2015). It provides a rich understanding of entrepreneurship education based on experiential knowledge and best practices from five entrepreneurship educators who have all worked as consultants to entrepreneurs, advisors to the government on entrepreneurship, and have taught entrepreneurship at the tertiary level for several years in the Caribbean. The findings illustrate that experiences, sense of purpose, reflective practice, lecturer's passion, mentoring, simulation and practice are seen to collectively offer a significant contribution to learning. Further, the findings support the view that teachers of entrepreneurship should draw upon highly developed techniques in their range of teaching methods that demonstrate aptitude for the subject matter. The participants agreed that ideally, the ultimate course goal is to support students in remembering techniques learned in an entrepreneurship class that contribute to gaining confidence in setting up their own venture and that assist with avoiding pitfalls. The purpose of the research article is to provide methodical insight that will improve the entrepreneurial orientation of students in entrepreneurship classes.

The vast majority of the islands in the Anglophone Caribbean ratified the Convention of the Rights of the Child shortly after its adoption by the United Nations in 1989. In this piece, we examine how the articulation of the Convention of the Rights of the Child in the Caribbean has shaped early childhood care and education. We note that though significant strides have been made, approximately 30 years after the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, many Anglo-Caribbean islands continue to struggle to fulsomely ensure children's access to all their fundamental rights. This conceptual article presents a historical overview of the implementation of specific Articles of the Convention of the Rights of the Child in the Caribbean. How these Articles have shaped the policies and practices guiding early education across the region is also explored. We conclude that though much has been achieved, as a region, more progress is needed to ensure that all children have equal opportunities to fulfil their rights.

Technical efficiency is the ability of a firm to produce its maximum output using a set of inputs or to minimise the use of its inputs to produce a certain level of output. When a firm is operating at its most efficient, operating costs can be minimised, profits maximised and competitiveness improved. This study investigates the role of a firm's human capital in impacting its technical efficiency. It uses the Productivity, Technology, Innovation survey (PROTEqIN) conducted for a sample of 13 Caribbean countries in 2014 and comprises 1,966 firms. To account for differences in efficiency of firms, a Stochastic Frontier Analysis is used to estimate the production function as well as technical efficiency scores. The efficiency scores are then regressed against workforce characteristics and other firm-specific control variables using a Tobit estimator with robust standard errors. The results suggest that workforce characteristics, in particular workforce composition in terms of the proportion of managers to total workforce and graduate and post-graduate education play an important role in influencing firm efficiency, perhaps more so than other firm-specific variables. Lastly, government technical assistance programmes in the Caribbean also act to improve firm technical efficiency.

The Caribbean ranks second only to Africa as the region with the highest levels of skilled emigration, which is defined as the outward migration of people holding a bachelor's degree or extensive/equivalent experience in a given field. Based on the cost of educating their citizens, there are strong arguments supporting the view that skilled emigration comes at significant economic and social cost, especially to small island developing states of the Caribbean. This paper, therefore, explores how the emigration of skilled labor from the CARICOM Caribbean impacts education policy nationally and regionally. Drawing on data collected through questionnaires and document analysis, the research unearths four dominant educational policy responses to skilled emigration: "bonding and compulsory service at the national level; regional cooperation on the movement of skilled labor through CARICOM's Single Market and Economy (CSME); market based approaches to educating skilled professionals; and education funding policy." The paper also analyses the efficacy of each of these four policy responses and their implications. Ultimately, these policy responses coalesce to highlight the national and regional complexities of educational policy-making under globalization, and the limitations of Caribbean national and regional educational policies aimed at controlling skilled emigration in the context of globalization's market forces.

Teachers' knowledge and use of developmentally appropriate strategies are vital for creating the enabling early learning environments that foster the development of the ideal Caribbean Community (CARICOM) citizen who is ready to face the challenges of living in the twenty-first century. Early childhood education in the Eastern Caribbean refers to pre-primary education [EDMU-OECS. (2012). The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Education Sector Strategy 2012-2021, Retrieved July 5, 2015, from http://www.oecs.org/edmu-resources/oecs-education-strategy; EDMU-OECS. (2014). "OECS education statistical digest" 2012/2013]. Thus five to seven year old children, during the first three years at the primary education level, are being denied their rights to developmentally appropriate learning since their teachers are seldom trained in early childhood philosophy. Teacher competence is needed to 'get things to happen on the ground level' [Fullan, M. (1996). Professional culture and educational change. "School Psychology Review," 25(4), 496-500, p. 496]. Thus, Quality Early Childhood Education in the Eastern Caribbean can be achieved if teachers of young children have knowledge of early childhood pedagogy.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to show how higher education institutions in the Caribbean may benefit from the quality assurance measures implemented by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC). Design/methodology/approach: The paper uses an outcomes model of quality assurance to analyse the measures implemented by the CXC to assure quality in its examinations. It considers how higher education institutions in the Caribbean can benefit from the approach to quality assurance used by that organization. Findings: The paper suggests that there are several ways in which the quality assurance in higher education institutions may be improved by using an outcomes model which focuses on the centrality of the student experience by learning from the experiences of the CXC. Research limitations/implications: The research uses a methodology of theoretical analysis, that is the selection and discussion of theoretical material and descriptive material, in a particular context, and considers their applicability for improving practice, in this case, in higher education institutions in the Caribbean. It therefore does not engage the collection and analysis of quantitative or qualitative data. Practical implications: The paper suggests that quality assurance practices of higher education institutions in the Caribbean should take into account the lessons that may be learned from the quality assurance measures implemented by the CXC. Originality/value: The paper calls attention to the need for higher education institutions to make the shift away from a purely institutional approach to quality assurance by adopting a more student-centred approach.

We used global positioning system (GPS) technology and tracking analysis to measure fishing effort by marine, small-scale, fish aggregating device (FAD) fishers of the Commonwealth of Dominica. FADs are human-made structures designed to float on the surface of the water and attract fish. They are also prone to common pool resource problems. To identify free riders with respect to specific FADs, we need to compare the cost expended for FAD construction versus the benefit fishers extract from their use of the FADs. From August to December 2012, we placed GPS devices on a sample of fishing trips to track movement and measure variation in fishers' fishing efforts at a set of seven FADs off the Atlantic east coast of central Dominica. The method produces high-resolution data to determine how much time different fishers use different FADs.

This paper seeks to explore the implementation of three of the critical elements required to improve performance in the education system: governance, accountability and management. The paper examines the education reform processes conducted by five Caribbean countries: Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Guyana, Belize, Trinidad and Tobago, along with those represented by the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States. The individual countries along with the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States have all embraced and implemented at some level the elements of governance, accountability and management as a part of their strategic planning arrangements between 1990 and 2010. The review shows that clear efforts were made by these countries to address the issue of governance, accountability and management although with varying levels of success. The most notable achievement was that the democratization and decentralization of the education process in these countries seemed to be a central strategy being used to strengthen governance, management and accountability. However, the implementation needs to be deepened so that stakeholders, especially at the school level, can have a greater say and make a more worthwhile and meaningful contribution to the process.

Nurse Researchers need to explore study abroad programs and identify their impact on the development of cultural competence and global perspectives in nursing students. The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experience of nursing students who study abroad and to identify benefits and impediments that may be used to spawn future research and shape existing and future study abroad programs. The research question for this phenomenological study was "What is the lived experience of nursing students who study abroad?" A purposive sample of nursing students was obtained and included participants who completed an elective study abroad nursing course to either England or Dominica between 2006 and 2008. Data collection was obtained from two sources: semi-structured interviews and written reflective travel journals. Four themes became evident as a result of becoming immersed in students' written and spoken words. Those themes were "recognizing, encountering, adapting, and mastering." Findings from this study suggest that there are vast benefits of study abroad programs for nursing students including, but not limited to, increased personal growth, awareness of diverse cultures, adapting despite an unfamiliar environment, and increased self-efficacy. These findings have strong implications for nursing education, practice, and research.

As part of a Teachers' International Professional Development (TIPD) group, ten primary science teachers, including Advanced Skills Teachers (ASTs), local authority consultants and science coordinators, representing seven schools in Islington, London, were invited to visit the island of Dominica in the Caribbean. The aim of the trip was to: (1) develop expertise about the rainforest in order to improve resources and lesson plans for colleagues; (2) understand the place in the wider community and the world through developing links with host schools; (3) understand how teachers challenged the pupils to consider their role in protecting and developing their environment; and (4) discover how "learning outside the classroom" impacted on the children's learning. In this article, the author shares some of the inspirational ideas gained in a unique environment and considers how these ideas could be applied with an inner-city primary science class. (Contains 4 figures.)

Obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes are becoming leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the Eastern Caribbean countries of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Grenada, and Dominica. To promote healthful diets and lifestyles and encourage behavioral changes, Food-Based Dietary Guidelines (FBDG) were developed for the general population in each of these countries. This paper reports on the comprehensive process of developing the guidelines through consensus building among stakeholders, technical assessments and priority setting, and use of qualitative methods to field test messages to ensure public understanding and motivation. Nutritionists in each country received training and support from the Food and Agriculture Organization and the Pan American Health Organization's nutritionists.

The stress response systems of the human child are highly sensitive to social challenges. Because stress hormones can have negative developmental and health consequences, this presents an evolutionary paradox: Why would natural selection have favored mechanisms that elevate stress hormone levels in response to psychosocial stimuli? Two complementary hypotheses are considered: (a) maladaptation to the novelty of chronic stress in social environments, and (b) adaptive neural reorganization that facilitates the ontogeny of social competencies. Data on salivary cortisol, morbidity, and social environment from an 18 year study of child health in a rural community on the island of Dominica are examined from the perspective of these alternative hypotheses. Results indicate that difficult family environments and traumatic events are associated with elevated cortisol levels and higher morbidity. The long-term effects of traumatic early experiences on cortisol profiles are complex and indicate domain-specific effects, with normal recovery from physical stressors, but heightened response to negative-affect social challenges.

Since 1955, the British banana industry has dominated the lives of the Caribs and other peoples in Dominica. Banana growing supplants other economic activities, including local food production; toxic chemicals and fertilizers pollute the land; community is dwindling; suicide is common; and child labor diminishes school attendance. (SV)

This section describes the special activities undertaken by seven countries to commemorate the International Year of Peace. (JDH)

Presents an initial sketch of the phonology of the English spoken on Dominica, West Indies, and argues that this English is not merely an "interference phenomenon" but a true Creole. (AM)

The effects of sediment contribution to the Lesser Antilles island arc have been well explored with whole-rock trace-element chemistry and isotopic studies. To better understand the source of these sediments, we analyzed >400 zircons for U-Pb ages and trace-element chemistry in eight andesiticdacitic ignimbrites and lavas younger than 100 ka from the island of Dominica in the central Lesser Antilles arc. The overwhelming majority of the zircons analyzed were magmatic in origin, with U-Pb ages younger than 10 Ma, but predominantly younger than 300 ka. Zircon trace-element chemistry is consistent with derivation from an oceanicisland arc, and positive eHf(t) values (+5 to +15) support a juvenile depleted mantle source. Rare Precambrian to Eocene xenocrystic zircons (36) were also found in the Dominican volcanics and record sediment dispersal from several different terranes as the Caribbean plate migrated eastward along the northern margin of South America. Although some previous detrital zircon studies in the region suggested zircons younger than 100 Ma were derived from the Great Arc of the Caribbean, the younger Dominican zircon xenocrysts (300-50 Ma) have elevated Th/Yb and U/Yb, as well as variable positive/negative eHf(t) values, inconsistent with an oceanic arc origin. These zircons in Dominica were most likely derived from the Eastern and Central Cordillera of the Andes, which experienced a flare-up in magmatism ca. 65-45 Ma. As the Great Arc of the Caribbean traversed along the South American margin, terrigenous sediments transported via river systems and turbidites accumulated in the forearc basin. Older zircons (1800-300 Ma) have a slightly different chemistry and equivocal source(s), including the Andes, northern Venezuelan coastal ranges, and/or the Guyana Shield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The Eastern Caribbean island of Dominica has experienced diverse negative effects from the North Atlantic hurricane season, including deadly storms like Hurricane Maria in 2017. Vulnerability is increased by geographic location, small island developing state (SIDS) status, and ecosystem characteristics. A variety of negative health effects including stress and anxiety are caused by powerful storms. The perspectives of middle-aged (the "sandwich generation") survivors in this post-storm milieu are understudied. Methods: This phenomenological qualitative study describes the perceptions of middle-aged (35-55 years) Dominicans, purposively recruited with gatekeeper assistance from communities stratified according to four natural hazard vulnerability categories designated by the Climate Resilience Execution Agency for Dominica (CREAD), regarding their lived experiences in the context of severe storms. Data was collected between June and August 2022, using primarily Zoom-based semi-structured, individual interviews (12 of 13), guided by the principles of saturation and maximum variation. Verbatim interview transcripts were thematically analyzed with constant comparison using an ATLAS.ti-supported hybrid deductive-inductive coding frame. Reflexivity and contact summary sheets were used to minimize bias. Results: Ten women and three men from diverse CREAD vulnerability and sociodemographic backgrounds were recruited. Data condensation yielded three organizing themes: (i) "The diverse health effects of severe storms", (ii) "Response to and recovery from severe storms", and (iii) "Preparedness and precaution for severe storms". These themes encapsulated the health impacts of severe storms on Dominicans and elucidated the role of facilitating and barricading resilience factors. Discussion: Severe storms produced direct and indirect mental, social, and physical health impacts on middle-aged Dominicans, including anxiety and burnout. Participants used faith-based, tangible community-based support, and emotional mechanisms to cope with and demonstrate resilience. Better risk communication and early warning systems would improve population readiness. Persistent dispirited attitudes toward storm preparedness among some participants suggest the need for targeted methods to enhance community involvement in disaster planning, including traditional approaches like "coup-de-main" (self-help). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Epidemiological transition to NCDs is a challenge for fragile health systems in the Caribbean. The Congregations Taking Action against NCDs (CONTACT) Study intervention proposes that trained health advocates (HAs) from places of worship (PoWs), supervised by nurses at nearby primary healthcare centres (PHCs), could facilitate access to primary care among vulnerable communities. Drawing on participatory and systems thinking, we explored the capacity of local PHCs in three Caribbean countries to support this intervention. Methods: Communities in Jamaica (rural, urban), Guyana (rural) and Dominica (Indigenous Kalinago Territory) were selected for CONTACT because of their differing socio-economic, cultural, religious and health system contexts. Through mixed-method concept mapping, we co-developed a list of perceived actionable priorities (possible intervention points ranked highly for feasibility and importance) with 48 policy actors, healthcare practitioners and civic society representatives. Guided in part by the concept mapping findings, we assessed the readiness of 12 purposefully selected PHCs for the intervention, using a staff questionnaire and an observation checklist to identify enablers and constrainers. Results: Concept mapping illustrated stakeholder optimism for the intervention, but revealed perceptions of inadequate primary healthcare service capacity, resources and staff training to support implementation. Readiness assessments of PHCs identified potential enablers and constrainers that were consistent with concept mapping results. Staff support was evident. Constraints included under-staffing, which could hinder supervision of HAs; and inadequate essential NCD medicines, training in NCDs and financial and policy support for embedding community interventions. Despite a history of socio-political disadvantage, the most enabling context was found in the Kalinago Territory, where ongoing community engagement activities could support joint development of programmes between churches and PHCs. Conclusion: Multi-sectoral stakeholder consultation and direct PHC assessments revealed viability of the proposed POW-PHC partnership for NCD prevention and control. However, structural and policy support will be key for implementing change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the manuscript diary of a Scottish doctor, Jonathan Troup, who during a truncated fifteen-month period, from 1789 to 1790, practised medicine on the island of Dominica, part of the climatic 'torrid zone' in the British West Indies. While the relevant textual contents of his diary are already familiar to scholars of medical humanities, the analysis seeks to complement and extend these existing discussions by addressing an aspect of the illustrated and inscribed pages of Troup's diary that has not been previously discussed, namely his diurnal account of race-making. The article argues that Troup was a product of Scottish enlightenment medical training, with its blended curricula of medicine, natural history and moral philosophy. The diary in turn, is shown to be a product of the diagnostic tools of that education, which equipped practitioners with the skills to classify human diversity through careful observation in the 'colonial field'. In his diurnal sketches, Troup employs a tiered racial system or calculus of colour to differentiate between peoples of different races, based on the visual proximity of their skin to either European whiteness or shades of blackness associated with African descent. In the textual descriptions that variously accompany, envelope, elucidate and ignore the drawings, Troup's race-making schema is shown to be informed by factors other than the gradations of skin complexion, including social temper and moral temperament. Such factors are given particular prominence in his discussion of multi-racial women, making gender an innate constituent of his race-making schema. The article is framed by the concept of business, which for most professionals in the Caribbean involved more than one economic occupation. It offers a prognosis as to the significance of Troup's diary for a range of academic disciplines, historical, literary and visual, and their discreet historiographies which pertain to his imperial careering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]