An International Partnership Promoting Psychological Well-Being in Sri Lankan Schools

This article illustrates the application of psychological and educational consultation in an international setting. With the goal of promoting psychological well-being of the school-age population, a partnership was formed between an American school psychologist and a Sri Lankan educational sociologist and teacher educator. The partners, or co-consultants, engaged in a recursive research–intervention process using participatory culture-specific system consultation to learn the culture; conduct formative research; form partnerships in selected systems; and subsequently develop culture- and context-specific conceptual models, interventions, and assessment/evaluation measures for promoting the psychological well-being of students in Sri Lankan schools. This article describes the stages of the collaborative work across almost two decades and the challenges and benefits inherent in international partnerships.     

Using order to reason about negative numbers: the case of Violet

This case study illustrates how a 2nd-grade child, Violet, used an ordinal view of number to reason about positive and negative integers and arithmetic involving integers. Violet’s ordinal view of number facilitated her ability to reason about and correctly solve some integer-related problems and constrained her solutions to others. We demonstrate how Violet’s thinking evolved over time while she extended the properties of whole numbers and addition and subtraction to the integers. Using this case study as a basis, we propose a series of developmental milestones that build toward one’s understanding of integers and integer arithmetic in an order-based way. We believe that understanding Violet’s order-based reasoning can help us listen to other children.     

Voices of senior rural men and women on falls and fall-related injuries: “If I fall outside and get hurt,what would I do?”

ABSTRACT

This qualitative study examined the falls and fall-related injury experiences of community-dwelling rural seniors. 42 senior men and women living in two rural areas in Saskatchewan, Canada were recruited, and in-depth interviews were conducted. Analysis revealed three main themes among responses: nature of falls and injuries, causes of falls and injuries, and consequences of falls and injuries. Men and women expressed a fear of falling, which led to activity limitations; however, women were more reflective on their potential to fall and showed an increased level of preparedness compared to men. The causes of falls included activities at the time of a fall, functional limitations, chronic diseases, and personal factors such as type shoes worn. While men and women downplayed the seriousness of their falls or injuries, indicating a level of hardiness, this trend was stronger among men. None of the participants discussed the role of health care professionals or the health care system in relation to fall risk and ways of preventing falls, despite reporting adaptations to prevent and deal with consequences of falls. Overall, these findings may allude to the scarcity of health care services provided in rural communities, highlighting a need to focus on falls prevention for community-dwelling rural seniors.     

Healthy Aging in Place: Perceptions of Rural Older Adults

To date, initiatives to support healthy aging in place have focused primarily on the views of policy makers, researchers, and health professionals. This article explored the meanings, experiences, and perceptions of healthy aging in place among rural older adults. Guided by a community-based participatory research approach, this study sheds light on the perspectives of rural seniors themselves. Through semistructured interviews with 40 rural older adults, the study found that rural older adults' conceptualization of healthy aging in place consisted of factors that policy makers and health professionals would not necessarily consider. In contrast to biomedical approaches, the rural older adults situated healthy aging in place within a more holistic context of health, ranging from social interaction to maintaining an optimistic mental outlook. If policy makers and researchers are to develop more effective interventions that support rural healthy aging in place, then the importance of rural older adults' perspectives, experiences, and input must be recognized.     

Research and Learning Information Resources

Founded in 1970 , with a mission of accessibility , flexibility , and affordability , the Community College of Vermont ( CCV ) has a unique decentralized organization . CCV serves more than 7 , 000 students - primarily adults studying part - time annually through a network of 12 learning centers across the state , without owning any real estate and without any full - time faculty . After becoming Vermont's second largest college in the 1980's , CCV inaugurated a "virtual campus," an integrated voice / data wide - area network , which has fostered communication and creativity in both the academic and administrative arenas . One of Vermont's five state colleges , CCV offers credit courses , non - credit workshops , certificates and associate degree programs in a wide range of subjects . As an open - admissions institution , CCV supports its students through computerized skills assessments , developmental courses and workshops , and a very successful skill - building course Dimensions of Learning. In recent years , the college has developed strong partnerships with state agencies and businesses to help foster lifelong learning for Vermont's workforce and has forged transfer agreements with many four - year colleges .     

Attachment Security Priming Decreases Children's Physiological Response to Threat

Ninety 6- and 7-year-olds (49.3% White, mostly middle class) from greater Washington, DC were randomly assigned to a subliminal priming condition (secure, happy, or neutral) to determine if attachment security priming decreases physiological, expressive, and self-reported fear reactions to threatening stimuli. Dispositional attachment security was also assessed. Secure priming and attachment security each decreased electrodermal reactivity, increased vagal augmentation, and decreased fearful facial expressions compared to control conditions. Examination of a statistical interaction between security priming and child attachment indicated that, although secure children had increased vagal augmentation and fewer fearful expressions than insecure children, the effects of priming were constant across secure and insecure children. There were no priming or attachment effects associated with children's self-reported fear.