State of the art of expert searching: results of a Medical Library Association survey.

OBJECTIVES: Medical Library Association (MLA) members were surveyed to gather background about the current state of expert searching in institutions. The survey results were intended to guide the recommendations of the Task Force on Expert Searching for promoting the importance of expert searching and implementing those recommendations. METHODS: MLA members were surveyed, and data obtained from the survey were compiled and analyzed to answer three general questions: what is the perceived value of searching skills to the institution, how do health sciences librarians maintain and improve their searching skills, and how are searching services promoted and/or mandated in the institution. RESULTS: There were 256 responses to the survey. Over 95% of the respondents saw their expert-searching skills were of value to their institutions, primarily through performing mediated searches and search consultations. Over 83% of the respondents believed that their searching skills had improved over the past 10 years. Most indicated that continued training was very important in maintaining and improving their skills. Respondents promoted searching services most frequently through orientations, brochures, and the libraries' Web pages. No respondent's institution mandated expert searching. Less than 2% of respondents' institutions had best practice guidelines related to expert searching, and only about 8% had guidelines or policies that identified situations where expert searching was recommended. CONCLUSIONS: The survey supports the belief that health sciences librarians still play a valuable role in searching, particularly in answering questions about treatment options and in providing education. It also highlights the need for more expert searching courses. There has been minimal discussion about the perceived need for expert-searching guidelines in the institutions represented by survey respondents.     

A Qualitative Examination of the Challenges, Resources, and Strategies for Serving Children Learning English in Head Start

The dramatic growth in the number of children learning English as a second language in our country has led to a corresponding increase in the need to understand how teachers and schools can effectively teach children who are learning English as a second language. Many teachers report not feeling prepared to meet the needs of these children (National Center for Education Statistics, Teacher preparation and professional development: 2000. , 2002). The current study used focus group interviews to examine how Head Start teachers in one program addressed the special learning needs of children learning English in their classrooms. Key challenges involved communicating with children and their families in their home language. Teachers used other staff, parents, and children in the classroom to interpret. Strategies involved visual aids, pictures, gestures, and a welcoming classroom environment. Resources used by teachers were professional development and language skills of other staff. However, available resources were often underutilized and limited for teachers to use in meeting the challenges the teachers faced in the classroom. Suggestions are presented for overcoming the challenges and limited resources encountered by teachers, such as changes in preservice and inservice training opportunities, and second language learning opportunities for teachers. Further implications for training and research are discussed.     

Association between attitudes of filial responsibility and parent caregiving behavior

Objective: To analyze the association between attitudes of filial responsibility and adult child caregivers’ behaviors in the Southern Region of Brazil.

Methods: Cross-sectional study with 100 child caregivers of older adults. The data were collected through an interview using the protocol of filial responsibility adapted and validated to Brazilian Portuguese. Filial Expectation and Filial Piety scales evaluated the attitudes of filial responsibility. Caring behaviors assessed were: instrumental support, emotional, financial support, and companionship. The variables that presented p< .20 value in the bivariate analysis were inserted into a multivariate Poisson regression model.

Results: Financial and emotional support behaviors were significantly associated with filial piety (p = .050 and p = .001, respectively) and filial expectation (p = .013 and p = .023, respectively). Providing companionship was associated with filial piety (p = .015).

Conclusion: Attitudes of filial responsibility are associated with some but not all caregiving behaviors. Brazilians caring for older parents show more similarities to Chinese than to Canadian caregivers. Furthermore, filial responsibility and caregiving behaviors are strongly affected by Brazilian social and cultural norms. Reasons are discussed.     

Improved children’s motor learning of the basketball free shooting pattern by associating subjective error estimation and extrinsic feedback

This study aimed at assessing the interaction between subjective error estimation and frequency of extrinsic feedback in the learning of the basketball free shooting pattern by children. 10- to 12-year olds were assigned to 1 of 4 groups combining subjective error estimation and relative frequency of extrinsic feedback (33% × 100%). Analysis of performance was based on quality of movement pattern. Analysis showed superior learning of the group combining error estimation and 100% feedback frequency, both groups receiving feedback on 33% of trials achieved intermediate results, and the group combining no requirement of error estimation and 100% feedback frequency had the poorest learning. Our results show the benefit of subjective error estimation in association with high frequency of extrinsic feedback in children’s motor learning of a sport motor pattern.     

‘The life of crime does not pay; stop and think!’: the process of co-constructing a prototype pedagogical model of sport for working with youth from socially vulnerable backgrounds

Purpose: This study discusses the process of co-constructing a prototype pedagogical model for working with youth from socially vulnerable backgrounds.

Participants and settings: This six-month activist research project was conducted in a soccer program in a socially vulnerable area of Brazil in 2013. The study included 17 youths, 4 coaches, a pedagogic coordinator and a social worker. An expert in student-centered pedagogy and inquiry-based activism assisted as a debriefer helping in the progressive data analysis and the planning of the work sessions.

Data collection/analysis: Multiple sources of data were collected, including 38 field journal/observation and audio records of: 18 youth work sessions, 16 coaches’ work sessions, 3 combined coaches and youth work sessions, and 37 meetings between the researcher and the expert.

Findings: The process of co-construction of this prototype pedagogical model was divided into three phases. The first phase involved the youth and coaches identifying barriers to sport opportunities in their community. In the second phase, the youth, coaches and researchers imagined alternative possibilities to the barriers identified. In the final phase, we worked collaboratively to create realistic opportunities for the youth to begin to negotiate some of the barriers they identified. In this phase, the coaches and youth designed an action plan to implement (involving a Leadership Program) aimed at addressing the youths’ needs in the sport program. Five critical elements of a prototype pedagogical model were co-created through the first two processes and four learning aspirations emerged in the last phase of the project.

Implications: We suggest an activist approach of co-creating a pedagogical model of sport for working with youth from socially vulnerable backgrounds is beneficial. That is, creating opportunities for youth to learn to name, critique and negotiate barriers to their engagement in sport in order to create empowering possibilities.     

Natural lighting in the Hall of Two Hundred. A proposal for exhibition of its ancient tapestries

The present paper provides a qualitative and quantitative approach to natural lighting design for the Hall of Two Hundred in Palazzo Vecchio (the present town hall) in Florence. Starting from transient simulation of natural lighting inside the Hall in its present state, using the commercial software Radiance, a design proposal was suggested, detecting the optimal conditions for tapestry conservation and maintenance and taking into account their periodical exhibition, designing a proper wall show-case solution. The suggested design does not modify the architecture and structure of the building. The distribution of natural lighting and consequently of the illuminance and luminance inside the ambient, suggested a solution for exhibition of the historical tapestries, which can guarantee not only tapestry conservation but also the Hall structure and its present uses. The design proposal provides a comfortable lighting environment, rehabilitation and improvement of the historical perception and sight of these works of art, under variable sun and sky conditions throughout the year.     

‘Trying to find the extra choices’: migrant parents and secondary school choice in Greater Manchester

This article, based on qualitative research in Greater Manchester, examines the experience of migrants in navigating the education system, and in particular in choosing secondary schools for their children. There has been extensive research on the process of choosing schools since the policy reforms of the 1980s, but none has examined how the process of choosing a secondary school is impacted by the material and affective impact of migration. The article argues that migrants’ experience is embedded in gendered, classed and racialised processes and that, despite the heterogeneity of the category, migrants often face particular barriers in negotiating the school system. Nonetheless it also explores the importance put on education by the migrants who were interviewed and the active labour they engage in to try and achieve the best results for their children.     

History of childhood abuse in Portuguese parents

OBJECTIVE: The study examines the self-reported prevalence of childhood physical and sexual abuse in a large sample of Portuguese parents. METHOD: Nearly 1,000 parents (506 mothers and 426 fathers) were selected through public primary schools from the Northern area of Portugal. All completed the Portuguese version of the Childhood History Questionnaire (CHQ) [Journal of Family Violence 5 (1990) 15]. RESULTS: Results show that the prevalence of abuse was 73%, but more severe physical abuse involving sequelae/injury was reported by 9.5%. Most physical abuses began prior to age 13, with half continuing after age 13. No gender differences were found for rates of physical abuse. However, among the milder physical abuse without sequelae/injury, those women who experienced "whipping" or "slapping/kicking" were more likely to do so from their mothers than fathers. Among men who were "slapped/kicked" this was more likely to be from their fathers. Low rates of sexual abuse were found at 2.6% with no gender or age differences. Lack of a supportive adult in childhood related to the more severe abuses, but only in adolescence. Portuguese rates of abuse were consistently lower than those reported in USA and Spanish studies using the CHQ. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first retrospective, self-report study of childhood abuse in a large sample of Portuguese parents and, even with a participation rate of 69%, shows lower rates than in US and Spanish samples.     

Combining a human performance model and a Six Sigma model to assess performance in a military environment

Military officials continually search for improvements in processes that focus on high‐performance outcomes. This qualitative study investigated process improvements of two departments within the Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center (the Security Department and the Testing Department) by assessing performance levels of the two departments using a combinatorial model from human performance theory and Six Sigma theory. Study findings produced strong empirical evidence with specific recommendations for initiating cost‐effective interventions for improvements. The Behavior Engineering Model was used to identify possible solutions to post‐training performance gaps identified during the evaluation.