EVALUATION OF A DISTANCE LEARNING COURSE IN GERIATRIC INTERDISCIPLINARY TEAMING

approach are advantageous in a rapidly changing health care system where managed care and integrated services are of increasing importance. A statewide Geriatric Education Center, in cooperation with faculty from multiple disciplines at a state-supported major medical college and other nationally known experts in this area, developed a graduate level distance learning course to enhance awareness of the importance of interdisciplinary teaming. Evaluation results documented an increase in the skills important to effective interdisciplinary team functioning. Greater improvements in attitude toward health care teams occurred among students employed in jobs where they worked primarily with older adults. Pre-training and post-training motivational differences were also found to distinguish students engaged in direct care, geriatric employment. Results are discussed in relation to other evaluation studies in this area and the advances likely to be documented with increased recognition of the benefits in employing geriatric interdisciplinary teams.     

Childhood sexual victimization,pedophilic interest,and sexual recidivism

Objective

The goal of the current study was to examine the extent to which child sexual abuse (CSA) and particular characteristics of CSA are associated with pedophilic interest and sexual recidivism.

Methods

Subjects were 462 adult male sexual offenders who had been incarcerated in Canadian federal prisons.

Results

Compared to sexual offenders who had not been sexually abused, those who had been sexually abused before age 16 sexually offended against significantly younger victims and had significantly more indicators of pedophilic interest. This was the case whether we examined self-reported or officially documented CSA. Offenders who had been sexually abused exclusively by a male had significantly more indicators of pedophilic interest than those who had been sexually abused exclusively by a female. These findings are consistent with past research and theory suggesting that CSA may play a role in pedophilia and sexual offending against children. CSA exclusively by a female abuser predicted higher rates of sexual recidivism than abuse by a male or both a male and female abuser. Among offenders with victims 15 years old or younger, a closer relationship between offender and abuser predicted higher rates of sexual recidivism. The relationship between CSA and sexual recidivism was significantly moderated by actuarial risk. More specifically, CSA predicted higher rates of sexual recidivism among higher risk offenders, but CSA did not predict sexual recidivism among lower risk offenders. This novel finding raises the possibility that CSA may play a role in sexual recidivism for some offenders.

Conclusion

If future research replicates this CSA by risk interaction and identifies the constructs and processes involved, CSA may be worth considering in risk assessment and treatment.     

THE FAMILIES WHO CARE PROJECT: MEETING THE EDUCATIONAL NEEDS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN AND RURAL FAMILY CARE GIVERS DEALING WITH DEMENTIA

Successful educational outreach to address the informational needs of African American and rural families dealing with dementia requires a concerted strategy that fosters trust and conveys a genuine commitment to the targeted communities. The Families Who Care project formed a partnership that included majority and minority institutions of higher education, state and local human services organizations, and two chapters of the Alzheimer's Association. These advisory groups were asked to identify the educational needs of family caregivers and guide the implementation of a train-the-trainer effort in Virginia. The results of strategic planning sessions are detailed, and analyses of evaluation data point to racial and cultural differences in the project's effect on participating family caregivers. Conclusions support increasing the availability of cultural competence training for those who provide services to diverse caregiving families. elders and their families and communities through the development and dissemination of culturally relevant materials emphasizing both the established facts about {Alzheimer's disease and related disorders} and the efficacy of seeking treatment''(Advisory Panel on Alzheimer's Disease, 1992, p. 50). There is a similar need to train family caregivers of rural elders with dementia, whose informational and service needs     

La autonomía como objetivo de la educación: implicaciones de la teoría de Piaget

RESUMEN

Para Piaget el fin de la educación debe ser el desarrollo de la autonomía, tanto en el terreno moral como en el intelectual. Esto significa desarrollar la capacidad de pensar críticamente por sí mismo. Tanto los valores morales como los conocimientos intelectuales no deben ser interiorizados por los niños, sino construídos desde el interior a través de la interacción con el medio. La educación actual refuerza la heteronomía de los niños y les impide desarrollar su autonomía, que es una tendencia natural en el hombre de base biológica. Algunos principios de enseñanza de una educación que tenga como objetivo el desarrollo de la autonomía son: reducir el poder de adulto del profesor; inducir al niño a intercambiar y coordinar sus puntos de vista con otros niños y con el profesor de igual a igual; incitar a los niños a tener una mentalidad activa y a tener confianza en su propia capacidad de descubrir cosas.     

Other Ways to Wisdom: Learning Through the Senses Across Cultures

Most of us in the Western world are accustomed to learning about the world primarily through our senses of sight and hearing. Despite a few interesting experiments in the education of the "lower" senses, smell, taste and touch have not been accorded a place in mainstream Western education. These senses tend to be associated either with "savagery" or sensualism. When we look across cultures, however, a different sensory picture emerges, in which each of the senses has a vital role to play in the acquisition of knowledge of the world. The example is taken of the Desana people of the Colombian rainforest. For the Desana the sound of every bird call, the colour and scent of every flower, the taste of every fruit is imbued with a message about the social and cosmic order. The Desana remind us in the modern West that knowledge does not just come from books and computers, it comes from the full-bodied experience and interpretation of our environment.     

An explicit multicomponent alphabet writing instruction program in grade 1 to improve writing skills

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Learning to write involves the acquisition of several skills, not the least of which is handwriting. Indeed, studies in cognitive psychology have...     

Anatomical Sciences Education Vol. 4, Issue 5, 2011 Cover Image

Drawing session from an art and anatomy workshop for medical students at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and art students at the University of Texas at San Antonio. A current trend in medical education is to integrate aspects of the humanities into the medical school curriculum. In this issue of ASE, Dr. Charleen Moore and her colleagues describe an art and anatomy workshop that uses drawing exercises to increase observational skills, to foster the development of humanistic sensitivities, and to emphasize the emotional aspects of dealing with mortality. (Photograph by Penelope Borchers).     

The impact of integrated environmental studies programs: are students motivated to act pro-environmentally?

In Canada, there exists a noteworthy educational initiative referred to as Environmental Studies Programs (ESPs). These secondary school programs are interdisciplinary, helping to link subject matter and encouraging student responsibility. The results of two case studies of Ontario ESPs that analyze the impact of ESP participation on students’ attitudes to, and relationships with, the environment and the extent to which program participation informs domestic pro-environmental behaviors and/or emancipatory social and environmental actions are presented. The results from the focus group sessions indicate that students believe that they can effect environmental change but that they struggle with ways to meaningfully enact that change in light of ‘real world’ constraints.