Chasing the sun: a virtual reference service between SAHSLC (SA) and SWICE (UK)

AIM: In 2002, a discussion in the United Kingdom (UK) between South-west Information for Clinical Effectiveness (SWICE) librarians and a member of the South Australian Department of Human Services Libraries' Consortium (SAHSLC) raised the possibility of developing an after-hours virtual reference service between the two consortium groups. The aim of the service is to put medical practitioners in contact with a librarian when urgent help is required in finding clinical medical information after hours. METHODS: A trial project has begun and has been given the name 'Chasing the Sun'. The service will make use of time-zone differences between the UK and Australia, so that librarians at work in another country will be able to answer urgent patient-related queries that cannot wait until normal office hours. RESULTS: This paper looks at the development of 'Chasing the Sun' from initial concept, funding proposal and trial project stage to implementation. It includes details of the groundwork, software evaluation, trials, outcomes, cost and benefits, future directions and potential problems yet to be experienced or overcome. CONCLUSION: This service is the first of its kind between health libraries in the world and offers potential for future worldwide expansion.     

Childhood emotional abuse and disordered eating among undergraduate females: mediating influence of alexithymia and distress

OBJECTIVE: Drawing from stress-vulnerability and trauma theory (e.g., Rorty & Yager, 1996), this paper presents a model of associations among child emotional abuse (CEA), alexithymia, general distress (GD), and disordered eating (DE). This study extended previous research on psychological outcomes of child physical and sexual abuse to explore those of CEA using measures of specific emotionally abusive acts. METHOD: Five hundred and eighty-eight female university students completed self-report surveys consisting of measures of CEA, alexithymia, depression, anxiety, and DE. Structural equation modeling was used to test this conceptual model. RESULTS: Comparison between measurement models suggested that bulimic behavior is a separate construct from restrictive eating behaviors and body dissatisfaction. In the structural model with the best fit, the association between CEA and DE was mediated by alexithymia and GD (i.e., a component of depression and anxiety). Specifically, CEA was associated with alexithymia, which was further related to GD. Then, restrictive eating behaviors and attitudes mediated the relation between GD and bulimic behaviors. By analyzing a second, nested model, this latter pathway was shown to be important. CONCLUSION: While the best-fitting model is only one of many possibilities, these results point to a weak-but significant-complex relation between CEA and DE. They are associated through a series of mediating relations in a multivariate model including alexithymia and GD. The current study supports research suggesting that child emotional abuse can have a negative impact on its survivors. Treatment of those survivors manifesting disordered eating should be holistic, as opposed to targeted towards specific symptoms.     

The challenging academic development (CAD) collective

Nurse education is characterised by dissonance, ambiguity and uncertainty. Such a context makes demands on the educator's authenticity or sense of self. This paper reports an attempt to provide a space where dissonance, ambiguity and uncertainty could be held, tolerated and examined and where authenticity could be recovered or developed through the practice of artistry. Three art workshops were offered to eight nurse educators over a period of three months. Each of the participants and the co‐facilitator were subsequently interviewed. All welcomed the opportunity to find meaning in their practice and to be listened to in a climate of empathy, acceptance and congruence. They undertook novel activities that allowed for discovery and surprise. They explored their sense of self and coined fresh metaphors to communicate their experiences. The paper argues that there is room for approaches to academic staff development that go against the mainstream.

La formation des infirmières se caractérise par la dissonance, l'ambiguïté et l'incertitude. Un tel contexte exerce des pressions sur l'authenticité et le sens de soi d'un éducateur. Cet article rend compte d'une tentative de fournir un espace o[ugrave] l'authenticité peut être redécouverte et développée au moyen de la pratique artistique. Trois ateliers artistiques ont été offerts à huit formateurs d'infirmières sur une période de trois mois. Des entretiens ont été effectués auprès de chaque participant et du co‐facilitateur. Les répondants ont tous accueilli l'occasion de trouver un sens à leur pratique et de pouvoir être écouté dans un climat d'empathie, d'acceptation et d'harmonie. Ceux‐ci on entrepris des activités nouvelles faisant place à la découverte et à la surprise. Ils ont exploré leur sens de soi et ont trouvé de nouvelles métaphores pour communiquer leurs expériences. Cet article défend l'idée que des activités de développement pédagogique qui vont à l'encontre de la majorité ont leur place.     

Disabilities and inclusive practices within Toronto preschools

A current objective in Canada is a provision of childcare services for all children. This objective has not been achieved as many children, especially those with disabilities, are often denied services from publicly funded daycare centres. The authors argue that policy discussions framed from an inclusive perspective provide a better understanding of how the Ontario child care system should function to ensure daycare services for children of disabilities. They interviewed the directors of 354 licensed preschools in Toronto about the inclusion of children with disabilities into their centres. Analysis revealed that only 2.4% of the students in these centres were identified as having a disability; the two most frequently identified disabilities were Autism Spectrum Disorders and speech and language disorders. The majority of directors stated that they would turn away a child because of a disability. The centres that were most inclusive had service providers come into the centre, but very few (17%) of these centres had resource teachers as support. The analysis further indicates a large number of centres that currently are not identified as capable of providing special need services and are not directly operated by the Ministry of Education. With staff development and funding, these centres have the potential to provide services to children of disabilities.     

The roles of the mentor and link tutor in primary school mentor training

This paper reports the evaluation of a small scale pilot mentoring scheme developed by a University Faculty of Education and some of its link primary schools to illuminate how the initiative might most profitably be developed in future years. This evaluation focused on the perceptions of all the parties involved in the mentoring (Head teachers, mentors, class teachers, students and link tutors) about their roles. Some suggestions are made about how the scheme might be developed in the future.     

Social and cognitive effects of professional communication on software usability

We designed and piloted a technical communication course for software engineering majors to take concurrently with their capstone project course in software design. In the pilot, one third of the capstone design course students jointly enrolled in the writing class. One goal of the collaborative courses was to use writing to improve the usability of students’ software. We studied the effects of writing on students’ user‐centered beliefs and design practices and on the usability of their product, using surveys, document analyses, expert reviews, and user test results. When possible, we compared the usability processes and products of teams who did and did not take the writing class. Our findings suggest that the synergy of this interdisciplinary approach effectively sensitized students to user‐centered design, instilled in them a commitment to it, and helped them develop usable products.