A national survey of educational preparation programs for early intervention specialists.

To examine the status of preprofessional education in early intervention, we conducted a nationwide survey of college and university programs offering degrees in education of the deaf. Curriculum content and practicum experiences with infants and toddlers and their families were examined, as well as general comments and recommendations of program directors. Additional information was sought from programs offering specializations at the preschool level to determine whether they had CED affiliation, and if so, whether they were certified in the areas of parent-infant education or early childhood education. The findings are discussed in the context of Public Law 99-457 and the growing emphasis on family centered early intervention.     

Medicine as a calling among male and female medical students in Israel: Does it make a difference?

This study focused on the perception of medicine as a calling and its associations with medical training satisfaction, career certainty, career satisfaction, career commitment, and well-being among 176 Israeli medical students. Participants replied to an online questionnaire including the Brief Calling Scale (Duffy and Sedlacek in Career Dev Q 59:27–41, 2010) and measures related to medical training, a medical career, and well-being. Calling was positively associated with all outcome measures, and gender moderated these associations, which were stronger for female medical students in comparison with male medical students. The importance of taking these gender differences regarding calling under consideration for career counseling is discussed.     

Using humour in counselling mentally retarded clients: A preliminary study

The effects of using two types of humour in counselling sessions with mentally retarded clients were examined. Eleven male and eleven female mildly handicapped participants rated the helpfulness of a male counsellor following in vivo counselling sessions where no humour (NH), facilitative humour (FH), and non-facilitative humour (NFH) were used. Results indicated that overall participants' ratings were significantly higher under the FH condition than when either NH or NFH were used. No overall effects were found for gender type, but analysis of intra-individual rating patterns indicated that ratings varied considerably among both male and female participants.     

Parental features and quality of life in the decision to remove children at risk from home

OBJECTIVES: The study examined the associations between the decisions of child protection officers to remove children at risk from home and a) the features of the children's parents and b) the quality of life the parents make it possible for their children to have. METHOD: 194 child protection workers completed a parental features questionnaire, child injury questionnaire, and Shye's Systemic Quality of Life Questionnaire on two children, one removed from home, the other remained. RESULTS: Parental cooperation with the worker, relationship with the child, addiction, and cleanliness were related to both the decision and the assessment of enabling quality of life. Parents' poverty, criminality, psychological problems, and cognitive impairment were related only to the workers assessment of parents enabling quality of life. Family status was related only to the decision. While injury to the child was associated with the decision, it added virtually nothing to the explanation of the decision beyond parental features and enabling. CONCLUSIONS: The variables related to the workers' assessment of the parents' enabling overlapped only partially with those related to the decision. The parents' features and enabling made only a modest contribution to explaining the workers' decisions. The findings suggest that the quality of life measure used in this study encompasses injury.     

Selected List of Periodicals on the Rocky Mountain States and Their Culture

An annotated list is presented describing fourteen periodicals that cover significant aspects of the Rocky Mountain states and their culture in whole or in part. The titles included are a selective and representative sampling. The entry for each periodical includes the following information: periodical title, publisher/editor and address, basic information, publication data, content, Internet information, and an abstract/annotation.     

Time to rethink the role of the library in educating doctors: driving information literacy in the clinical environment

Question:

Can information literacy (IL) be embedded into the curriculum and clinical environment to facilitate patient care and lifelong learning?

Setting:

The Australian School of Advanced Medicine (ASAM) provides competence-based programs incorporating patient-centred care and lifelong learning. ASAM librarians use outcomes-based educational theory to embed and assess IL into ASAM''s educational and clinical environments.

Methods:

A competence-based IL program was developed where learning outcomes were linked to current patients and assessed with checklists. Weekly case presentations included clinicians'' literature search strategies, results, and conclusions. Librarians provided support to clinicians'' literature searches and assessed their presentations using a checklist.

Main Results:

Outcome data showed clinicians'' searching skills improved over time; however, advanced MEDLINE searching remained challenging for some. Recommendations are provided.

Conclusion:

IL learning that takes place in context using measurable outcomes is more meaningful, is enduring, and likely contributes to patient care. Competence-based assessment drives learning in this environment.     

Early Neglect Is Associated With Alterations in White Matter Integrity and Cognitive Functioning

Cognitive deficits have been reported in children who experienced early neglect, especially children raised in institutionalized settings. Previous research suggests that early neglect may differentially affect the directional organization of white matter in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). This may be one mechanism to explain cognitive deficits associated with neglect. To test this idea, properties of white matter and neurocognitive performance were assessed in children who suffered early neglect and those raised in typical environments (n = 63, M_age = 11.75 years). As predicted, prefrontal white matter microstructure was affected, consistent with more diffuse organization, in children that suffered early neglect and this was related to neurocognitive deficits. Such findings underscore how early adversity may affect the PFC and explain cognitive deficits associated with neglect.