The impact of exposure to domestic violence on children and young people: a review of the literature

OBJECTIVE: This article reviews the literature concerning the impact of exposure to domestic violence on the health and developmental well-being of children and young people. Impact is explored across four separate yet inter-related domains (domestic violence exposure and child abuse; impact on parental capacity; impact on child and adolescent development; and exposure to additional adversities), with potential outcomes and key messages concerning best practice responses to children's needs highlighted. METHOD: A comprehensive search of identified databases was conducted within an 11-year framework (1995-2006). This yielded a vast literature which was selectively organized and analyzed according to the four domains identified above. RESULTS: This review finds that children and adolescents living with domestic violence are at increased risk of experiencing emotional, physical and sexual abuse, of developing emotional and behavioral problems and of increased exposure to the presence of other adversities in their lives. It also highlights a range of protective factors that can mitigate against this impact, in particular a strong relationship with and attachment to a caring adult, usually the mother. CONCLUSION: Children and young people may be significantly affected by living with domestic violence, and impact can endure even after measures have been taken to secure their safety. It also concludes that there is rarely a direct causal pathway leading to a particular outcome and that children are active in constructing their own social world. Implications for interventions suggest that timely, appropriate and individually tailored responses need to build on the resilient blocks in the child's life. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: This study illustrate the links between exposure to domestic violence, various forms of child abuse and other related adversities, concluding that such exposure may have a differential yet potentially deleterious impact for children and young people. From a resilient perspective this review also highlights range of protective factors that influence the extent of the impact of exposure and the subsequent outcomes for the child. This review advocates for a holistic and child-centered approach to service delivery, derived from an informed assessment, designed to capture a picture of the individual child's experience, and responsive to their individual needs.     

Children's Reasoning about Video and Real Balance-Scale Problems

Research findings: 3- and 5-year-old children's television-viewing was recorded for 2 years, then their rules for solving videotaped and real balance-scale problems were assessed. Older children used more advanced rules than younger children. Those who saw the videotaped version first used less advanced rules on it than on the real version. Those who saw the real problems first did not differ between versions. Neither verbal IQ, nor family demographics, nor television-viewing predicted 5- or 7-year-olds' rules on real problems. However, 7-year-olds' rules for solving video problems were positively related to parents' ratings of how often their child engaged in TV-focused social interactions. TV focus accounted for the effects of order of administration on the video problems. Cartoon-viewing at age 7 was negatively correlated with using rules on the video. Once cartoon-viewing at 7 was accounted for, cartoon-viewing at age 5 emerged as a positive predictor of rule use on the video. The results are more consistent with mental effort than media literacy. Implications for practice: Parents should encourage TV-focused social interactions and educators should begin with real demonstrations, then proceed to video-mediated instruction.     

LGBTQIA+ youth as multicultural educators

ABSTRACT

Multicultural education generally takes place as culturally competent adults prepare other adults to work with a variety of student youth. In this paper, we present an alternative that disrupts the pattern of adults teaching about youth. Our alternative has youth educating adults in ways that centre youth’s experiences and insights with schooling. We discuss the educative efforts of Chroma, a youth community for LGBTQIA+ and allied youth aged 12–20. First, we tell the story of Chroma’s educative efforts. Then, we discuss our methodology. Next, we discuss three key sets of insights about their educative efforts – anchoring expertise, meeting adult learners halfway, and barriers to learning. We raise questions inspired by these findings. At last, we conclude with a deconstruction of the adult–youth binary in multicultural education and ethnographic research.     

A Longitudinal Analysis of the Frequency of Part-Time Enrollment and the Persistence of Students Who Enroll Part Time

Longitudinal data from the 1990/94 Beginning Post-Secondary Survey is used to evaluate the frequency of part-time enrollment and the persistence of students who ever enroll part time. We find that part-time enrollment is twice as common as cross-sectional estimates indicate, with between 40% 50% of the student population attending part time during at least one nonsummer term within 5 years of their initial enrollment. In total, between 52% 62% of the sample either stops out for a term or enrolls part time. The persistence of this nonstereotypical population is surprisingly high, with between 40% 60% still enrolled or graduated within a 5-year period. By comparison, 60% of those who always attend full time and never stop-out persist. These figures suggest that policymakers should direct more attention to those enrolled part time.     

A Five Country Study of Gender and Sexuality Diversity and Schooling in Southern Africa

The importance of quality education provision for all is a globally acknowledged principle for the creation of sustainable learning environments at primary and secondary levels. This article reports on a study that aimed to increase understanding of the context of how gender and sexuality diversity is responded to in schools in Southern Africa. In this regard, the researchers drew on a recent five country study focusing on what the literature says about gender and sexuality diversity and schooling in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland. Drawing on a review of reports and publications by relevant ministries, policy documents, published research, relevant statistical data, as well as the grey literature from civil society organisations, the findings indicated significant barriers to access for learners who embody non-normative gender or sexualities. The policies and schooling cultures in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland foreground discourses that marginalize, silence and invisibilise gender and sexual minorities. The researchers argue that if educational institutions in the region are to include all learners, there must be real engagement with the ongoing realities of heterosexist exclusion and marginalisation. The findings pointed to the need for teacher education to step up efforts to prepare teachers in the region to comfortably and professionally engage with and teach about issues of gender and sexuality diversity in the classroom.     

Ethnography,materiality, and the principle of symmetry: problematising anthropocentrism and interactionism in the ethnography of education

ABSTRACT

In this article we draw on actor-network theory (ANT) in order to challenge the methodological and empirical orthodoxies of anthropocentrism and interactionism that have long informed dominant discourses of ethnographic work. We use ANT to open new possibilities for understanding education as emergent in relational fields where non-human forces are as equally necessary as and possess an agency equivalent to, human forces: the principle of symmetry. We argue that this generates important conceptual as well as political possibilities in constituting different possible outcomes in the accomplishment of ethnographies of education. We draw attention to the problematic of the decentring of the human subject and the critical investigation of the interface between people and objects that frame this special issue, and also propose a methodological response framed by a commitment to empirical research through ethnography as well as a theoretical response framed by relational materialism, operationalised here through recourse to ANT.     

An Analysis of Anatomy Education Before and During Covid-19: May–August 2020

Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) created unparalleled challenges to anatomy education. Gross anatomy education has been particularly impacted given the traditional in-person format of didactic instruction and/or laboratory component(s). To assess the changes in gross anatomy lecture and laboratory instruction, assessment, and teaching resources utilized as a result of Covid-19, a survey was distributed to gross anatomy educators through professional associations and listservs. Of the 67 survey responses received for the May–August 2020 academic period, 84% were from United States (US) institutions, while 16% were internationally based. Respondents indicated that in-person lecture decreased during Covid-19 (before: 76%, during: 8%, P < 0.001) and use of cadaver materials declined (before: 76 ± 33%, during: 34 ± 43%, P < 0.001). The use of cadaver materials in laboratories decreased during Covid-19 across academic programs, stand-alone and integrated anatomy courses, and private and public institutions (P ≤ 0.004). Before Covid-19, cadaveric materials used in laboratories were greater among professional health programs relative to medical and undergraduate programs (P ≤ 0.03) and among stand-alone relative to integrated anatomy courses (P ≤ 0.03). Furthermore, computer-based assessment increased (P < 0.001) and assessment materials changed from cadaveric material to images (P < 0.03) during Covid-19, even though assessment structure was not different (P > 0.05). The use of digital teaching resources increased during Covid-19 (P < 0.001), with reports of increased use of in-house created content, BlueLink, and Complete Anatomy software (P < 0.05). While primarily representing US institutions, this study provided evidence of how anatomy educators adapted their courses, largely through virtual mediums, and modified laboratory protocols during the initial emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic.     

Expansive learning in a change laboratory intervention for teachers

The theory of Expansive learning and the change laboratory (CL) methodology has been developed and applied in many studies on workplace learning and educational change. There are fewer studies made on small-scale interventions, exploring the longitudinal development of expansive learning in an educational change effort. This article examines a CL intervention performed in an upper secondary school in Sweden, with a small group of teachers engaged in a participatory design project. By identifying and analysing the relationship of the seven learning actions posited by the theory of expansive learning, the aim was to contribute to the discussion of the CL methodology and the empirical usability of the theory. The results showed that the seven expansive learning actions functioned as analytical tools to map the teachers learning and development, but the analysis also showed many deviations, disruptions and occurrence of practical actions of design in the process. This challenge the notions of cyclicity and ascension in the theory of expansive learning. Cyclicity might be desirable but not necessary for expansive learning which questions the need to first grasp the problem at a conceptual level before generating concrete solutions. The Findings in this study suggests the opposite; that the entanglement and parallel movement between the abstract and the concrete was a driving force for the teachers expansive learning and the design of new curricular units.

     

Plasticity of human menstrual blood stem cells derived from the endometrium

Stem cells can be obtained from women’s menstrual blood derived from the endometrium. The cells display stem cell markers such as Oct-4, SSEA-4, Nanog, and c-kit (CD117), and have the potent ability to differentiate into various cell types, including the heart, nerve, bone, cartilage, and fat. There has been no evidence of teratoma, ectopic formation, or any immune response after transplantation into an animal model. These cells quickly regenerate after menstruation and secrete many growth factors to display recurrent angiogenesis. The plasticity and safety of the acquired cells have been demonstrated in many studies. Menstrual blood-derived stem cells (MenSCs) provide an alternative source of adult stem cells for research and application in regenerative medicine. Here we summarize the multipotent properties and the plasticities of MenSCs and other endometrial stem cells from recent studies conducted both in vitro and in vivo.     

Cyberself: The Emergence of Self in On-Line Chat

Expanding computer network technologies have emerged as a popular communication channel for millions of people. Contemporary literature abounds with ideologically biased accounts of on-line interaction that hinder the emergence of a coherent analytical framework. Scholarly work on computer-mediated communicative play remains underdeveloped. Through an empirically grounded theoretical orientation, this study aims to identify and illustrate processes and elements central to the emergence of self in on-line chat environments. By use of an e-mail survey, participant observation, content analysis, and open-ended interviews, the social nature of on-line interaction is illustrated and identified as significantly more than the technological sum of the medium. Findings indicate that through on-line chat-interaction a 'cyberself' emerges, rooted in a unique form of communication that is disembodied, dislocated, anonymous, multiple-simultaneous, and faceless. Each of these elements introduces new possibilities to the dramatic nature of on-line interaction, which represents a kind of communication 'self-game' where participants enact a multiplicity of selves.