Developing a Model of Medication Adherence among Filipino Elderly

While adherence to medication remains a problematic area in the care of chronically ill elderly, an extended model that incorporates the interaction of studied variables remains a blank spot. Anchored on Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior, this article details our efforts to develop and test a model of medication adherence among Filipino elderly relative to their medication belief, follow-up visits, consultation satisfaction, memory task, trust with physician, perceived stress, memory strategies, social support, memory load, depression, length of time taking the medication, number of conditions, and self-efficacy with medication adherence. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to study causalities among all parameters. With the participation of 325 older adults located in District IV, Sampaloc, Manila, data needed were gathered through a multiaspect questionnaire consisting of a robotfoto, a memory strategy usage measure, an eight-scale Morisky Medication Adherence Scale, a 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale, a General Self-efficacy Scale, a Consultation Satisfaction Questionnaire, and a Perceived Stress Scale. Data were analyzed using AMOS version 19. Results revealed that depression, trust with physician, and number of conditions affect adherence positively, while event-based memory, consultation satisfaction, memory load, and external memory strategy affect it otherwise. Some suggested variables were found to have no impact at all. As this study reveals, careful consideration should be given to multiple factors, and their interrelationship should be examined well. Because many factors can influence medication adherence behavior of the elderly, and because the reasons for their noncompliance are also varied, multifaceted solutions must be developed.     

Honoring and Suffering the Thorn: Marking,Naming, and Eldering Depth Psychology II

This is the second article advocating and explicating a depth psychological approach to the education of the talented. In this analysis we take the “thorn” on the Piirto Pyramid of Talent Development and relate it to the processes of marking, naming, and eldering/mentoring as teachers practice them. The article presents 20 ways that the imaginal, symbolic aspects of life can be acknowledged and brought forth in students, thus invoking the educare within education.     

Users’ perceptions of the impact of information provided by a Consumer Health Information service: an in‐depth study of six users

This paper describes the impact of providing six users of the Health Facts Consumer Health Information Centre at Frenchay Hospital with health information. Comments from a previous user satisfaction questionnaire survey implemented by the researcher provided themes to explore. These were: (1) cognitive effects (2) affective effects (3) behavioural effects. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with six consecutive users of the centre asking about a health problem for themselves. Health Facts information improved knowledge and understanding, reduced anxiety, and helped respondents accept and self‐manage illness, facilitated by quality of content and presentation. Everyone took some subsequent action in support of their condition. The centre saved users’ time searching for information elsewhere and staff were key players providing it. Information was shared with others, extending its impact. Increased publicity for the service was the main suggested improvement. Health Facts information was mostly rated higher than other information sources, and unexpectedly as high as information from doctors. Even well‐informed users gained new understanding. Health Facts information is highly valued, and complements advice given by health professionals. Findings reflect recent literature and government policy to get patients more involved in their own health care. The methodology may help other health information services investigate this subject.     

Boys and machines: gendered computer identities,regulation and resistance

Students negotiate their masculine and feminine identities as students of information and communication technology (ICT) and computer users as they participate in specialist ICT courses and in other areas of their lives. As they negotiate these roles, they are established in relations of power and authority with the technology and with each other. Case study research relating to students’ experiences in specialist computer courses in a New Zealand secondary school reveals a complex and dynamic picture of identity construction and subjectivity. In constructing their personal identities as computer users, males and females experience the regulatory forces of gender relations while at the same time resisting stereotypes. Students make conscious and pragmatic decisions to pursue particular computing courses and paths as they balance their options in the realisation of their possible selves as computer users and adults in the world of work. These decisions signify regulation by and resistance to gendered power relations.     

Phonological skills and comprehension failure: A test of the phonological processing deficit hypothesis

Shankweiler and colleagues argue that text comprehensionproblems in young children arise from phonological processingdifficulties. Their work has focused on children with poor wordreading ability. We investigated this hypothesis for children whoexperience comprehension difficulties in the presence of age-appropriate word reading skills. We found that good and poorcomprehenders performed comparably on various measures ofphonological processing and differed on a task that made greaterdemands on working memory, Bradley and Bryant's odd-word-outtask. In a final study, hierarchical regression analyses supportedthis distinction: the odd-word-out task was a strong predictor ofreading comprehension performance even after IQ, vocabulary and single word reading had been controlled for, but a lessmemory-dependent phonological task was not. These studiessupport previous work which indicates that poor comprehenders'problems arise from higher-level processing difficulties.     

Evaluating the impact of an academic teacher development program: practical realities of an evidence-based study

This study aimed to assess the impact of an entire academic teacher development programme at a Midwestern masters comprehensive university in the United States over a period of five years by examining changes in teaching and student outcomes of nine randomly selected programme participants. Researchers analysed syllabi, course evaluations, grade distributions, programme activity reports, interviews and vita, and concluded that the centre’s impact was greatest on tenure-track faculty who struggled with their teaching. Far more useful to future improvement, however, were the insights gained from reflection on study methods, the researchers’ emotional responses to their findings, their struggle to make sense of the data and grappling with the definition of ‘impact’. In this paper, the researchers share useful lessons learned and illustrate the difficulties inherent in evaluating academic development programmes, with a view to qualifying recommendations currently prevailing in the literature.