Child maltreatment prevalence and mental disorders outcomes among American Indian women in primary care

OBJECTIVE: To examine (1) the prevalence, types, and severity of child abuse and neglect (CAN) and (2) the relationship between CAN and lifetime psychiatric disorders among American Indian women using primary care services. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 234 American Indian women, age 18-45 who presented for outpatient ambulatory services at a community-based Indian Health Service Hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Dependent measures included mood, substance abuse, and anxiety disorders as well as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as measured by the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. CAN was assessed using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. RESULTS: Approximately three-quarters of respondents (76.5%; 95% CI = 70.4, 81.7) reported some type of childhood abuse or neglect; over 40% reported exposure to severe maltreatment. Severity of child maltreatment was associated in a dose response manner with lifetime diagnosis of mental disorders. After adjusting for social and demographic correlates, severe child maltreatment was strongly associated with lifetime PTSD (prevalence ratio [PR] 3.9; 95% CI = 1.9, 8.0); and was moderately associated with lifetime substance use disorders (PR = 2.3; 95% CI = 1.6, 3.3); mood disorders (PR = 2.1; 95% CI 1.4, 3.2); and with two or more disorders (PR = 2.3; 95% CI = 1.6, 3.4). CONCLUSION: CAN was common in our sample of American Indian women in primary care and was positively associated with lifetime psychiatric disorders outcomes. Screening for CAN and psychiatric disorders would enhance the treatment of patients seeking primary care services. Primary prevention of child maltreatment might reduce the high prevalence of mental disorders among American Indian women.     

A Program for Counseling and Campus Support Services for African American and Latino Adult Learners

This study describes counseling and support services for African American and Latino adult learners that reduce barriers to graduation. Procedures adapted traditional counseling by (a) using faculty counselors and (b) including gender‐, culture‐, and adult‐based perspectives in individual and group counseling and peer support. Support relevant to the learners' needs is effective in retaining adult learners, thereby making higher education accessible to a student body inclusive of adult learners.     

Examining the Impact of Pedagogy on Student Application of Learning: Acquiring,Sharing, and Using Knowledge for Organizational Decision Making

In this pilot research we examine the impact of two leadership development training programs on the ability of students to acquire knowledge, share knowledge, and apply knowledge for organizational decision making. One program emphasized concepts and case‐based application based on a technical learning paradigm. The other program used a game‐based computer simulation, Virtual Leader, grounded in an experiential or situated learning paradigm. After training, students from both programs engaged in a complex in‐basket exercise to examine the quality of their leadership and managerial abilities. In this exercise, participants from each training intervention worked with their trained cohort to accomplish a day of managerial work. Participants were observed and their individual and collective actions and decisions on behalf of the organization were evaluated. Using qualitative research we compared the organizational decisions associated with each group to determine which pedagogical technique resulted in the most effective application of student learning. While technical learning pedagogy was associated with greater information acquisition, the game‐based computer simulation (an experiential, social‐interaction oriented pedagogy) was associated with better decision quality and more shared cognition. Evidence suggests that students taught with the game‐based computer simulation collectively demonstrated a greater ability to apply what they learned.     

New teachers of color and culturally responsive teaching in an era of educational accountability: Caught in a double bind

The purpose of this article is to examine how and to what extent schools’ responses to accountability policies in the United States influence the ability of new teachers of color to draw on their own and their students’ cultural resources to engage in culturally responsive teaching. A 5-year study of 17 new teachers of color reveals that these teachers identified three principal tensions which correspond to the three dimensions of culturally responsive teaching: (a) cultural and linguistic relevance versus standardization, (b) community of learners versus teacher transmission, and (c) social justice versus enhanced test scores. The teachers also described two mechanisms by which accountability-based programs and policies were enforced: fear of monitoring and internalizing the link between testing and educational opportunity. We applied the metaphor of “double bind” to explain the tensions and enforcement mechanisms encountered by these teachers. The “double bind” forced the new teachers of color to enact contradictory systemic demands promoted by government policy and the teaching profession and exacted an individual toll. We conclude with implications for policy, practice, and research.     

Facets of adaptability in career decision-making

International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance - We investigated the conceptual similarity and empirical overlap between the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS) and the career...     

E-book as facilitator of vocabulary acquisition: support of adults,dynamic dictionary and static dictionary

We investigated the effects of three facilitators: adults’ support, dynamic visual vocabulary support and static visual vocabulary support on vocabulary acquisition in the context of e-book reading. Participants were 144 Israeli Hebrew-speaking preschoolers (aged 4–6) from middle SES neighborhoods. The entire sample read the e-book without a dictionary once, and was pretested on receptive word comprehension, expressive word explanation and word production in story retelling. The sample was then randomly divided into four groups, each reading an e-book three times, with: (1) adults’ vocabulary support; (2) dynamic visual dictionary support; (3) static visual dictionary support; or (4) without support. The participants were then posttested on the same measures. Children’s progress in all measures was dependent on group, with adults’ support appearing as most effective, dynamic dictionary as second, static dictionary as third, and no support as least effective. However, the gains differed significantly only between some of the groups, but were always significantly different between the group given adults’ support and the control group which was given no support. We conclude that e-books can be used effectively to facilitate word meaning acquisition at different levels. This contribution can be augmented by adults’ support and dynamic dictionary support.     

When Sociocognitive Transaction among Peers Fails: The Case of Misconceptions in Science

The effect ofsociocognitive transaction among peers on cognitive change was analyzed. Transaction concerned the concept of speed applied to 2 problems: a Piagetian problem and a parallel problem evoking a misconception. The effect of transaction, intended to evoke inter- and intrapersonal conflicts, was compared to two other treatments: taking a multiple choice test aimed to raise intrapersonal conflict and no intervention. A total of 360 sixth, eighth, and tenth graders participated. Following treatments, subjects mainly progressed on the Piagetian problem and mainly regressed on the problem evoking the misconception. Transaction had a beneficial effect on the former problem, encouraging progress and discouraging regression relatively to other treatments. It had a bidirectional effect on the latter problem, encouraging both progress and regression. Cognitive change following transaction was related to level of reasoning on speed during transaction. Inter- and intrapersonal conflicts evoked by transaction resulted in different changes in the 2 problems: Interpersonal conflict increased intrapersonal conflict on both, but the degree of intrapersonal conflict was related to change on the latter problem only, with greater conflict evoking greater change, mainly regressive. Results cast doubt on Piagetian assumptions concerning the role of conflict in cognitive development.