Characteristics of effective interventions in improving young people's sexual health: a review of reviews

The purpose of this paper is to conduct a review of reviews to identify characteristics of effective sex and relationship education (SRE) interventions and/or programmes in young people to improve sexual health and identify barriers and facilitators for implementation. Six bibliographic databases were searched from 1986 to 2006 for systematic reviews that assessed SRE interventions or programmes in participants between 10 and 18 years old and their partners. All outcomes of improvement in sexual health were assessed and 30 systematic reviews were included. Effective interventions and/or programmes tended to be those targeting younger age groups before they become sexually active, focused interventions tailored to the physical and biological development stages, theory based, and abstinence education programmes that incorporate values of relationships and provide skills training and links to contraceptive services. Adequate training of personnel delivering the interventions and culturally sensitive programmes were identified as important facilitators of effectiveness. Future research should explore the appropriate age for initiating sex education and investigate targeting specific behaviour compared with multiple-outcome targeting. Research exploring the reasons for interventions focusing on specific populations (i.e. African and Hispanic origins), even if they were conducted in countries dominated by Caucasians, is warranted.     

美国早期特殊教育师资培养体系反思及启示

早期特殊教育不仅在促进每个障碍儿童的发展和提高其家庭生活质量方面起着至关重要的作用,而且有着巨大的社会效益和经济效益,是和谐社会的重要组成部分。美国法律规定0—21岁的所有障碍儿童有权获得免费和适当的教育,由具有专业化水平的相关人员为这些儿童提供服务和支持。本文从政策层面到实践层面对美国的早期特殊教育师资培养体系进行了系统、全面地分析,了解其现状和存在的挑战,以及未来发展的趋势,以期为促进我国早期特殊教育师资培养体系的发展提供一些理论和实践上的参考。     

Supporting accomplished facilitation: examining the use of appreciative inquiry to inform the development of learning resources for medical educators

This paper examines the use of appreciative inquiry (AI) to guide development of web-based learning resources for medical educators who facilitate simulation-based learning experiences for doctors-in-training. AI can be viewed as a positive form of action research, which seeks to avoid deficit-based analyses and solutions, and commonly associated defensiveness. The use of AI to guide research and curriculum development has hitherto received scant attention.

Simulated medical practice allows learners’ needs to take top priority because simulated patients replace real patients (whose care would otherwise be top priority). Each episode of simulated clinical practice is followed by facilitated debriefing. Facilitators complete an initial ‘train the trainers’ course (typically one or three days). Our learning resources aimed to complement and extend initial courses.

AI informed data collection and analysis. It focused attention on identifying and understanding what was good about contemporary debriefing practices. We identified examples of practical wisdom and designed resources to help make these more transparent and accessible to all facilitators. Selected video records and interview excerpts demonstrated key points. We found opportunities to introduce ideas that would extend facilitators’ expertise.

We critique AI as an approach to action research and curriculum development, and recommend further use of AI in other contexts.     

Simplified prototyping of perfusable polystyrene microfluidics

Cell culture in microfluidic systems has primarily been conducted in devices comprised of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) or other elastomers. As polystyrene (PS) is the most characterized and commonly used substrate material for cell culture, microfluidic cell culture would ideally be conducted in PS-based microsystems that also enable tight control of perfusion and hydrodynamic conditions, which are especially important for culture of vascular cell types. Here, we report a simple method to prototype perfusable PS microfluidics for endothelial cell culture under flow that can be fabricated using standard lithography and wet laboratory equipment to enable stable perfusion at shear stresses up to 300 dyn/cm² and pumping pressures up to 26 kPa for at least 100 h. This technique can also be extended to fabricate perfusable hybrid PS-PDMS microfluidics of which one application is for increased efficiency of viral transduction in non-adherent suspension cells by leveraging the high surface area to volume ratio of microfluidics and adhesion molecules that are optimized for PS substrates. These biologically compatible microfluidic devices can be made more accessible to biological-based laboratories through the outsourcing of lithography to various available microfluidic foundries.     

MEASURING ASPIRATIONS,BELONGING, AND PRODUCTIVITY IN SECONDARY STUDENTS: VALIDATION OF THE STUDENT SCHOOL ENGAGEMENT MEASURE

This article proposes a model of student school engagement, comprising aspirations, belonging, and productivity. From this model, items for the Student School Engagement Measure (SSEM) were developed. The SSEM was validated with data from 396 eighth graders in an urban school district. Utilizing structural equation modeling, the second‐order empirical model of the SSEM was found to fit the data well, to have good reliability for the three factors, and to be predictive of district‐identified risk factors and state standardized academic assessment results. These results suggest that the Student School Engagement Model and the SSEM may be useful tools for understanding which students might be at increased risk for school dropout and how to intervene to support school completion. Recommendations for practitioners and future research are given.     

Further iterations on using the Problem-analysis Framework

A core component of applied educational and child psychology practice is the skilfulness with which practitioners are able to rigorously structure and conceptualise complex real world human problems. This is done in such a way that when they (with others) jointly work on them, there is an increased likelihood of positive outcomes being achieved for clients. The Problem-analysis Framework as discussed in this paper offers one way of working with such complexity which is grounded in a sound knowledge based in applied psychology. This paper provides further clarity on using the framework within applied practice. The authors were all trained in and use the Problem-analysis Framework and now work in many different types of applied settings within Australia, Iceland, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom. This paper illuminates important aspects of the problem-analysis approach itself for those currently learning it, as well as providing an aide-mémoire to those using it and those who want to develop their skills in this area.