If You Build It and They Still Don't Come: Effective versus Successful Alternative Teacher Preparation

The continuing shortage of special education teachers, combined with increased ideological critiques of teacher education programs, has spurred the growth of alternative models of teacher preparation. Only recently have professional standards for alternative models been proposed. This paper summarizes two years of a program based on professional standards. External influences, internal design, and implementation elements are presented. Results suggest that there is value in distinguishing between the effectiveness of alternative programs and their success.     

The role of managed mental health care in counseling gifted children and families

This study examined the role of managed mental health care in the counseling of gifted children and families. When gifted children and their families experience difficulties resulting from giftedness, they have the option of choosing a private provider, although cost is often prohibitive. Moreover, when insurance is used to offset the cost, most mental health insurance policies have a managed care component. One requirement of managed care is that services be medically necessary to alleviate a recognized mental illness diagnosis. Problems resulting from giftedness may not be recognized as a mental illness. As a result, insurance may not pay for these counseling costs. However, this does not have to be the case because of the flexibility managed care case managers have to make judgments. 40 managed care case managers were surveyed to address this issue. 14 of the case managers consented to individual interviews. The results indicate that some case managers would approve reimbursement and others would not. The study describes criteria and conditions that need to be met for reimbursement.     

Effects of Diagnostic Label and Disease Information on Emotions,Beliefs, and Willingness to Help Older Parents with Osteoarthritis

We studied the impact of the diagnostic label of osteoarthritis and educational information on family members' attributions, perceptions, and willingness to help older parents with pain. Undergraduate students (N = 636) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions where they read vignettes about an older mother with chronic pain, which varied on illness label and educational information. Results indicated that both the osteoarthritis label and osteoarthritis information led to more positive perceptions compared with no label/healthy aging information. Results highlight the importance of diagnosis and education in promoting favorable attributions and increasing willingness to help older adults with osteoarthritis.     

GERONTOLOGICAL INTEREST AND OPINIONS OF HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS

The purpose of this study was (1) to examine and analyze the opinions and interests in geriatrics, gerontology, and older people of physicians, registered nurses, and dentists; and (2) to make comparisons of the expressed interests and opinions between the three groups of practitioners. The instrument consisted of two parts, demographic information and 22 questions regarding the interest and training in geriatrics/gerontology and opinions of the health needs of the elderly. From the results obtained in this study implications for the future training of health care providers are discussed.     

Hourwatch: monitoring the inception of the National Literacy Strategy

This article outlines the preliminary findings from a small scale research project set up by a group of UKRA members to monitor teachers’ views of the literacy hour in its first year. The research draws on questionnaires, interviews and video data to reveal issues which concerned those teachers taking part in the survey and provides a snapshot of what it was like for some teachers coping with this initiative.     

Photovoice as a research method for higher education research

ABSTRACT

Higher education (HE) research often draws on a range of qualitative research approaches. However, some methods developed in other fields are underutilised in HE research, even though they could be of great use for answering particular kinds of research questions, or for involving students more actively in the research process. In this article, we draw on a study that piloted different methodological approaches to explore students’ conceptions of good teaching and effective learning at university. The participants in our study included 33 high achieving international, Māori, Pacific Island, and (other) local students enrolled in Humanities subjects. Our study used photovoice as a visual data collection approach in conjunction with more traditional methods of data collection: open-ended focus group questions and critical incident technique. In this article, we review the photovoice literature, which is mostly from outside HE. Then, we describe our study, discussing the students’ responses to photovoice, and the different kinds of data it elicited. We note that, while most students expressed appreciation of the photovoice approach, some also found it restrictive and challenging in some respects. We conclude, photovoice offers a useful methodological addition to HE research, while noting, as with all data collection approaches, researchers need to be mindful of its limitations.