Understanding Elder Abuse in Italy: Perception and Prevalence,Types and Risk Factors From a Review of the Literature

The paper aims to perform a review of studies on elder abuse in Italy. Hand searching was undertaken of grey literature and reviews of published papers concerning local, national, and cross-national studies, both in Italian and English languages. Inferences mainly about perception and prevalence, types and risk factors, but also concerning victims and perpetrators when data were available, have been derived through the quantitative and qualitative information collected. On the whole, elder abuse in Italy, with a prevalence rate around 10–14%, is characterized by more female victims, especially in the oldest age groups. The risk of psychological abuse is highest, but the level of financial mistreatment is also high. In domestic settings, difficulties of overburdened family caregivers have been associated with the existence of possible episodes of abuse, which often remain hidden. In institutional settings, neglect of dependent persons, expired medications and lack of hygienic conditions represent the most common forms of reported abuse, uncovered with the help of police inspections. In both settings, the use of physical restraints emerges as an area of concern. Although caution is needed in relation to generalization, the available data suggest the existence of a widespread phenomenon of elder abuse in Italy. But more in-depth research is needed to provide further evidence and to raise the currently relatively low general and professional awareness of elder abuse. Moreover, a dedicated legal framework and protocol for tackling and preventing the phenomenon, and ad hoc support services for the victims, need to be urgently addressed.     

Strengthening the Early Childhood Workforce: How Wage Incentives May Boost Training and Job Stability

Research Findings: Aiming to raise the quality of early childhood teachers and caregivers and to reduce turnover, government and professional associations are pursuing 2 intervention strategies. The 1st mandates higher credential levels, as seen with Head Start and state preschool reforms. Here we examine the efficacy of the 2nd strategy: offering wage incentives to encourage in-service training and to reduce job turnover. We followed 2,783 preschool center directors, teachers, and classroom aides who participated in California's Child-care Retention Incentive (CRI) program during a 3-year period. County-designed programs offered differing combinations of wage supplements and professional development to participants who pursued college-level training. We found a priori low levels of staff turnover among those who selected into the CRI program. This conditioned the modest program effects that we observed and revealed the segmented character of the early childhood labor force, which appears to shape selection patterns. Demographic attributes of staff and the auspice in which staff worked were significantly related to the number of college units acquired and to job stability. Specific features of local CRI programs were less influential. Staff completed more college courses when participating in programs that provided stronger career advising and professional activities in addition to their college coursework. Practice or Policy: Implications for incentive programs nationwide are discussed.     

Qualitatively recognizing the dimensions of student environmental identity development within the classroom context

This study qualitatively explored the process of student environmental identity development (sEID) within the highly social and structured context of elementary school science. Social practice theory was used as the lens to distinguish the dimensions of sEID that were visible during a curriculum-based, in-school program focused on the issue of pollution. Student narratives, collected from small group interviews and reflective journals, were prioritized to capture the process of students in context identifying as “being for the environment.” Data collected from 35 grade six students were qualitatively coded, a network diagram was used to visualize the relationships in the data, and a research vignette was constructed. Eight dimensions were recognized as contributing to sEID; the opportunity to be an environmental actor with peers, increased awareness of environmental threat, emotional responses, self-recognition for environmental action, perceived agency, changed behavior across social contexts, social recognition for identity actions, and personal meaning. While many of these dimensions have been directly or indirectly discussed in the research on adult environmentalists, shifting the emphasis from group membership to the individual student in context led to the addition of two dimensions—personal meaning and emotional responses. Recognizing the eight dimensions of sEID is an important contribution to the literature as students engaging in environmental action as a requirement of school is distinct from the existing research. Identifying the dimensions of sEID can support the intentional design of learning sequences that foster environmental identities in school and beyond.     

Principals may inflate teacher evaluation scores to achieve important goals

Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability - A concerning attribute of teacher evaluations across countries is the systemic leniency of principals during classroom observations. However,...     

Perception and use of reinforcement by special education teachers

This study aimed to investigate whether special education teachers shared similar difficulties in their understanding of reward and punishment as their mainstream peers. Thirty‐five teachers working in six special education needs schools took part in a mixed methods study to explore their use and understanding of reinforcement principles. The purpose of the mixed methods approach was to triangulate the teachers use and perceived use of different reinforcement strategies within the classroom. Teachers’ had a good grasp of positive reward‐based strategies, but their understanding of the other three types of reinforcement (negative reward, punishment and penalty) was less accurate. There was a clear aversion amongst the sample to discuss punishment with many stating that they do not use it, which contrasted with the observations. Structured continued professional development interventions are required to rectify the discrepancies between belief and evidence.     

What helps and hinders indigenous student success in higher education health programmes: a qualitative study using the Critical Incident Technique

Tertiary institutions aim to provide high quality teaching and learning that meet the academic needs for an increasingly diverse student body including indigenous students. Tātou Tātou is a qualitative research project utilising Kaupapa Ma¯ori research methodology and the Critical Incident Technique interview method to investigate the teaching and learning practices that help or hinder Ma¯ori student success in non-lecture settings within undergraduate health programmes at the University of Auckland. Forty-one interviews were completed from medicine, health sciences, nursing and pharmacy. A total of 1346 critical incidents were identified with 67% helping and 33% hindering Ma¯ori student success. Thirteen sub-themes were grouped into three overarching themes representing potential areas of focus for tertiary institutional undergraduate health programme development: Māori student support services, undergraduate programme, and Ma¯ori student whanaungatanga. Academic success for indigenous students requires multi-faceted, inclusive, culturally responsive and engaging teaching and learning approaches delivered by educators and student support staff.     

Is the physical availability of alcohol and illicit drugs related to neighborhood rates of child maltreatment?

OBJECTIVE: This study examines how the availability of alcohol and illicit drugs (as measured by alcohol outlet density and police incidents of drug sales and possessions) is related to neighborhood rates of child abuse and neglect, controlling for other neighborhood demographic characteristics. METHOD: Data from substantiated reports of child abuse and neglect in 304 block groups in a northern California city were analyzed using spatial regression techniques. RESULTS: This study found that higher concentration of bars (B=6.66, p<.05) and higher numbers of incidents of drug possession (B=.53, p<.001) were positively related to rates of child maltreatment in neighborhoods when controlling for neighborhood demographic characteristics. Thus, areas with more bars and drug possession incidents per 1000 population have higher rates of child maltreatment. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of more bars per population may represent a lack of resources available to residents, may increase the stress on neighborhoods by "attracting" populations prone to participating in dangerous activities, or increase the frequency of alcohol use that then leads to maltreatment. Areas with more drug possession incidents may also contribute to the overall level of neighborhood stress and disorganization or act as a marker for drug use that leads to maltreatment. These results suggest that the neighborhood substance availability may deserve special attention when developing preventive interventions to reduce child abuse and neglect in neighborhood areas.