Child sex abuse treatment: Some barriers to program operation

A treatment program for sexually abusing families is described, which illustrates the complexities in the families, in the treatment required to assist them, and in the interrelations of agencies with whom they come into contact. The program used a multi-therapist, multi-modality treatment model in conjunction with expert consultants in medicine, psychology, art therapy, law, criminology, and research. The article discusses the formidable barriers to creating a treatment program that stem from the necessity of establishing linkages with other agencies and systems in the society. These barriers include the difficulty other service providers may have in recognizing the problem; the trouble doctors, lawyers, and policemen have in interviewing the young victims; the problems in the criminal justice system with obtaining justice for the victim by arresting and prosecuting the offender while protecting his rights; and the conflict of the schools caught between their responsibility as mandated reporters of abuse and the legal rights of the parent-offender. Questions are raised which may assist others embarked on developing similar programs.     

Steering Dynamics in Complex Education Systems. An Agenda for Empirical Research

Many policy systems and education systems have grown more complex in the last three decades. Power has moved away from central governments in different directions: upwards towards international organisations, sideways towards private institutions and non‐governmental organisations and downwards towards local governments and public enterprises such as schools. Where once we had central government, we now have governance, which can be defined as the processes of establishing priorities, formulating and implementing policies, and being accountable in complex networks with many different actors. Steering in such complex education systems emerges from the activities, tasks and responsibilities of state and non‐state actors, operating at different levels and from different positions and often has un‐deliberate, un‐intentional and un‐foreseen consequences. There are many conceptual models that encapsulate this complexity, but this article suggests that there is a real need for empirical research. Without empirical research it remains unknown whether and how steering in complex networks works out in practice, what are its effects and for whom. Moreover, it is only through empirical research that we can find out whether central government has become less dominant, or rather whether its appearance has changed and it has become less visible, but not necessarily less influential. Foucault's governmentality perspective is a useful notion on which to build such a framework for empirical research which allows for a careful study of the interactions that signify steering. Inspired by Foucault, this article develops a trilogy of assumed conditions for steering to take effect in modern societies. Following this reasoning, ‘something' first needs to be made thinkable, calculable and practicable by different actors for steering to occur. This trilogy is a promising starting point for empirical research into very specific phenomena which can help us to understand how steering in complex education systems works.     

The teaching profession against the background of educationalisation: an exploratory study

This article focuses on the teaching profession against the background of educationalisation in the Netherlands in the sense that Dutch schools are increasingly regarded as focal points at which to address and solve social issues. Our research project concentrated on the extent to which teachers, being key figures in the school organisation, understand their role as one that embraces a social in addition to an educational mission. It explores teachers’ professional identity and their awareness, task perception and self-efficacy with respect to performing a social mission. The results show that ‘addressing social issues’ can be identified as a dimension of teachers’ professional identity. However, teachers report low self-efficacy as regards carrying out social tasks, irrespective of their task perception and awareness. The phenomenon of educationalisation is occurring in other Western European countries and in the US. The results of this exploratory study raise questions about the feasibility of educationalising social problems.     

Serial position effects in social transmission of food preference

The serial position effect in Long-Evans rats was evaluated in two experiments. In Experiment 1, the effect in a group for which an interstimulus interval (ISI) was introduced between items in a list of demonstrators was compared with that in a group without an ISI. With an ISI, a recency effect was produced. In Experiment 2, a serial position effect group was compared with four groups in which either the distinctiveness or the context of the middle item was changed, relative to the items on either side of it. A von Restorff effect was produced when a rat from a different strain was used as a demonstrator in Position 2. The results for Experiment 1 are discussed in relation to interstimulus effects in monkeys and those for Experiment 2 with respect to changes in the physical properties of middle items.     

Public Funding and Budgetary Challenges To Providing Universal Access To Primary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa

Budgetary capacity that would allow for the public funding of the provision of universal access to primary education is lacking in many sub-Saharan economies. National revenues significantly lag behind the overall economic productivity measure of GDP. Analysis of data derived from UNESCO and UNDP for 2004 shows that governments in the region spend far less in US dollars per unit cost on primary education than do developed countries. Increasing the unit cost of education in order to enable a government to guarantee universal primary education would take away resources from other tiers of the education system in many countries in the region. The alternative is to universalise access, despite existing budget allocation constraints, and thereby further compound the problems of poor infrastructure and limited human resource capacity that continue to compromise education quality in sub-Saharan Africa.     

Effects of a physical education-based coping training on adolescents’ coping skills,stress perceptions and quality of sleep

Background: Although most adolescents successfully manage the transition between childhood and adulthood, the speed and magnitude of these changes may exceed the coping abilities of a significant number of young people. For vocational students, additional responsibilities arise during the vocational school transition and the need to balance academic and job-related requirements. An expanding body of literature suggests that adolescence is a vulnerable period for the development of psychiatric diseases and as such, the need to develop an adequate coping repertoire is receiving increasing attention globally. The growing awareness of long-term consequences of stress has led governments to instill school-based resilience promotion programs. For instance, the new physical education (PE) curriculum of vocational (vocational education and training (VET)) students in Switzerland addresses stress management, because stress-related diseases at the workplace have become commonplace among young professionals.

Purpose: Our aim was to develop, implement and evaluate a PE-based coping training (EPHECT) for VET students. Therefore, we adapted components of extant field-tested coping training programs and tailored them to the unique needs of VET students. To facilitate the standardization of the program, each teacher received a teaching manual. Moreover, drawing upon experiential learning theory, we introduced the contents of the coping training in PE class through practical, movement-based exercises in PE. Students also received a workbook for use at home.

Participants and research design: In this cluster randomized controlled trial, eight classes from a Swiss vocational school participated (N?=?131, M_age?=?16.22?±?1.12, 35% females). Two trained PE teachers implemented the program with students in the intervention group (IG?=?67) for three months, while students in the other four classes maintained regular PE (CG?=?64) to comprise the control group. To evaluate the coping training, all participants completed several self-report psychological questionnaires (assessing stress, coping and sleep) at baseline and follow-up. IG students completed further questions with regard to intervention fidelity at follow-up.

Data analysis: To evaluate possible effects of the coping training on stress, coping and sleep, a 2?×?2 repeated-measures analysis of variance design was executed with time (pre vs. post) and group (IG vs. CG) as within- and between-subject factors.

Findings: Over time, IG students significantly increased their adaptive coping compared to CG students, while stress and sleep remained relatively stable for both. Regularly completing one’s homework reinforced this effect because it was significantly associated with students’ reflection and compliance.

Conclusion: A complete and accurate implementation of a PE-based coping training can make a positive contribution to the development of adaptive coping skills among adolescents attending vocational schools. This PE-based program allows students to experience their responses to stress directly and offers opportunities to experiment with different coping strategies. Adaptive coping skills are vital for successful stress management and the prevention of stress-related disorders across the work domain and in everyday life.     

Training of elite cyclists: effects on mood state and selected hormonal responses

The psychobiological status of cyclists over a period of 8 months of training was assessed by measuring the sympatho-adrenal level, the central noradrenergic activity, and the cortisol-testosterone ratio status noninvasively. Alteration of these indices after a large increase in training load lasting 4 days (+ 187%) was also examined. Urinary excretion of methoxyamines (metanephrine, normetanephrine) and 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol sulphate (MHPG-S), and salivary concentrations of cortisol and testosterone, were measured in 12 national cyclists after a non-specific training period and 48 h before 4 days of increased training (T1), after these 4 days (T2) and at the end of 4 months of specific training (T3). Urinary and salivary samples were also collected during a rest period (T0). At each of these times, mood states and ratings of perceived muscle soreness were assessed, and a questionnaire of early clinical symptoms of the overtraining syndrome (Profile of Mood States) was administered. A significant increase in normetanephrine (P < 0.05) and a decrease in the testosterone-cortisol ratio (P < 0.05) were observed at T2, while MHPG-S excretion remained unchanged. Over the same periods, increased training loads did not induce mood disturbances. Eight months of training were associated with significant alterations in metanephrine (P < 0.05) and MHPG-S (P < 0.05). These results suggest a dissociation between the neural and endocrine catecholaminergic components systems. Opposite responses between MHPG-S and Profile of Mood States scores show that further investigations are needed to understand the relationship between central noradrenergic function, which is recognized as a regulatory factor of mood, and psychological tests measuring mood.