Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy: medical diagnostic criteria

Medical diagnostic criteria for Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy are presented. The strength of the known facts may vary from case to case, and thus there may be different degrees of diagnostic conviction. Therefore, diagnostic criteria for a definitive diagnosis, and a possible diagnosis of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy are provided. Because the gathering of evidence in a case may, ultimately, diminish or exclude the diagnosis of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, diagnostic criteria for the inconclusive determination and the definitely excluded diagnosis are also enunciated.     

Intimate partner violence among female caregivers of children reported for child maltreatment

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and correlates of intimate partner violence among female caregivers of children reported to child protective services. METHOD: Data were derived from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, a national probability study of children investigated for child abuse and neglect in the United States. Caregivers were interviewed about demographic characteristics, mental health, substance use, and physical violence by a partner. RESULTS: The lifetime and past year prevalence of intimate partner violence was 44.8 and 29.0%, respectively. Caregiver major depression and history of prior reports of child maltreatment were strongly associated with violence against women. CONCLUSIONS: The findings highlight the need for effective screening and identification of intimate partner violence in families in which child maltreatment has occurred.     

Multivariate alternatives to regression analysis in the evaluation of salary equity-parity

The analysis of salary equity-parity in institutions of higher education typically involves the use of multiple regression analysis to determine predicted salary and the residual differences between predicted and actual salary. Multiple regression analysis forces the variable weights throughout the salary structure to be uniform, permits only one criterion or dependent variable to be examined at a time, restricts the coordinates to those provided by the variables as measured, and as customarily used, treats qualitative or discrete variables as if they were continuous, assuming ordinality of the numbers used. Two multivariate alternatives to regression analysis are presented, canonical analysis and multiple discriminant analysis, both of which define new coordinate systems for evaluation of dimensions underlying salary decisions.Presented at the 23rd Annual Forum of the Association for Institutional Research, Toronto, May 1983.     

Foreign students in Italy

The paper presents an analysis of the trends in and links between policies, practices and foreign student enrolment in Italian universities. While the number of foreign students has increased in Italy over the post-war period, the trend and composition of the flow have been affected by changes in government policies and institutional practices regarding foreign students as well as developments in countries sending large numbers of foreign students to Italy. Greek students continue to account for a large proportion of the foreign student population in Italy, but there has been a marked trend toward a reduction in the share of students from developing countries. Over time, foreign student enrolments have become more evenly distributed among faculties and institutions and by gender. Preliminary analyses of degree completion suggest that foreign students progress in their studies at rates slightly lower than Italian students.     

Qualitative research as a method for making just comparisons of pedagogic quality in higher education: a pilot study

Systems designed to ensure that teaching and student learning are of a suitable quality are a feature of universities globally. Quality assurance systems are central to attempts to internationalise higher education, motivated in part by a concern for greater global equality. Yet, if such systems incorporate comparisons, the tendency is to reflect and reproduce inequalities in higher education. Highlighting the European context, we argue that, if higher education is to play a part in tackling social inequalities, we must seek alternative methods to explore pedagogic quality in institutional settings. The sociologist Basil Bernstein’s concepts of classification and framing provide an illustration of the potential of sociologically informed, qualitative approaches for exploring and improving higher education pedagogy and also for addressing social justice issues: these two concepts are used to analyse documentation about undergraduate sociology in two universities that have quite different reputations within the English and Northern Irish higher education system.     

Utilization of Counseling Services: Comparing International and U.S. College Students

Counseling center utilization patterns during a 2‐year period for 218 international and 222 U.S. college students were examined. Significant between‐group differences were found with regard to age, academic status, referral source, relationship status, self‐reported concerns, counselor diagnosis, disposition, hospitalization rates, prior counseling experience, and use of crisis appointments. Significant within‐group differences among international students were also found. Implications for improving programs and clinical services are discussed.     

Lessons on and from the dihybrid cross: An activity–theoretical study of learning in coteaching

During their training, future teachers usually learn the subject matter of science. However, they are largely left on their own when it comes to figuring out how to teach this subject matter, that is, how to find appropriate pedagogical forms. In this article we present a model of collective teaching and learning, which we term coteaching/cogenerative dialoguing, as a way to build deep learning of science concepts while learning about alternative ways to teach the same subject matter. As praxis, coteaching brings about a unity between teaching and learning to teach; cogenerative dialoguing brings about a unity between teaching and researching. Both are potential sites for deep learning. We articulate coteaching/cogenerative dialoguing in terms of activity theory and the associated first‐person research methodology that has been developed by critical psychologists as a method of choice for dealing with the theory–praxis gap. Our detailed case study highlights opportunities of learning subject matter and pedagogy by university professors who participate in coteaching/cogenerative dialoguing in an urban high school. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 253–282, 2002     

Video-based methodologies: the affordances of different viewpoints in understanding teachers’ tacit knowledge of practice that supports young children’s oral language

Using video as a mode of data generation in research involving young children and their teachers has become a more common practice in educational research. Digital video recordings provide the opportunity to capture the complexity of interactions that occur between people, time, space and objects, however, working with this methodology and form of data can be complex and challenging. This paper focuses on the use of video as a methodology to understand teachers’ tacit knowledge of practice that supports young children’s oral language. This study explores four specific viewpoints that have been employed to investigate teachers’ practice: (1) camera, (2) teacher, (3) researcher and (4) peers. From our analysis of the affordances of the differing viewpoints, we propose that what can be ‘seen’ is directly impacted by the understandings of those involved in the research process in relation to data capture, viewing and analysing the data. We argue that these viewpoints are not neutral or mutually exclusive rather they should be considered complementary and supplementary in building a comprehensive understanding of teachers’ tacit knowledge of literacy practice.     

Dragons,Ladybugs, and Softballs: Girls’ STEM Engagement with Human-Centered Robotics

Journal of Science Education and Technology - Early experiences in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) are important for getting youth interested in STEM fields, particularly for...     

Creating spaces for pedagogy: Research as learning

As teacher-educators, we designed and implemented a small study that mapped teacher-education students' understandings of their own identities and how they made sense of ethnicity and class differences among their secondary students while on teaching rounds. While we didn't set out to ‘teach’ our research participants, it was during the analysis of data from the research project, that we began to realise the potential of research to create opportunities for learning. In this paper we speculate on the ‘conditions’ of knowledge production and suggest that the dialogic nature of interviews and focus group discussions can offer pedagogical spaces for learning. Research designs that incorporate opportunities for participants to re-tell narratives over periods of time, may position participants as experts in knowledge production and may reposition them and researchers in more equitable power relations. We present an example of one participant's narrative together with our interpretations to explore how research potentially offers ‘evidence’ of learning. While this is tentative only, we suggest there is a need to create spaces for pedagogy in the design and execution of educational research.