Promoting schoolchildren’s self-esteem in physical education: testing the effectiveness of a five-month teacher training

ABSTRACT

Background: Schoolchildren’s personality development is considered a central goal of physical education (PE). With regard to the relationship between psychological well-being and global self-esteem over the life course, the promotion of positive self-esteem is an issue of particular significance. Past research revealed that PE taught with an individualized teacher frame of reference (iTFR) and a reflexive teaching style is associated with positive effects on facets of children’s perceived sports competence. However, it remains an open question whether this teaching styles has the potential to promote positive self-esteem.

Purpose: The present study investigated whether a five-month teacher training, aimed to enhance the teachers’ iTFR and their reflexive teaching style in PE, has a positive effect on students’ perceived sports competence and their global self-esteem. To analyse the implementation quality, changes in students’ perceived iTFR and perceived reflexive teaching style were investigated.

Method: A total of 21 teachers were assigned to either an intervention group (n?=?13), receiving the five-month teacher training, or a control group (n?=?8) consisting of regular teaching without teacher training. The teacher training encompassed five three-hour consecutive sessions during which the teachers acquired theoretical and practical knowledge about the promotion of competence perceptions in PE with a reflexive teaching style and an iTFR. Between the sessions, the teachers were instructed to implement an iTFR and a reflexive teaching style into their own PE classes. To evaluate the effects of the teacher training, their students’ (N?=?315, 53.7% girls, M_age?=?13.2 y, SD_age?=?1.3 y) perceived teaching style (iTFR and reflexive teaching), perceived sports competence and global self-esteem were measured with paper-pencil questionnaires at three measurement points (pre, post and follow-up).

Findings: Linear mixed effect models showed that students of the intervention group reported an increase in their teachers’ reflexive teaching style, but there were no changes with regard to iTFR. With regard to students’ perceived sports competence and global self-esteem, there were significant interaction effects between time and group over a period of eight months (from pre-test to follow-up), indicating positive effects on these self-concept dimensions due to the teacher training.

Conclusion: The present study indicates that a long-term teacher training supports PE teachers to implement teaching styles with the aim to promote students’ self-concept. Furthermore, the findings lead to the assumption that a more pronounced iTFR in combination with an enhanced reflexive teaching style has the potential to positively influence schoolchildren’s perceived sports competence and global self-esteem.     

Impact of age on host responses to diet-induced obesity:Development of joint damage and metabolic set points

Background:Osteoarthritis is one of the leading causes of pain and disability worldwide,and a large percentage of patients with osteoarthritis are individuals who are also obese.In recent years,a series of animal models have demonstrated that obesity-inducing diets can result in synovial joint damage(both with and without the superimposition of trauma),which may be related to changes in percentage of body fat and a series of low-level systemic inflammatory mediators.Of note,there is a disparity between whether the dietary challenges commence at weaning,representing a weanling onset,or at skeletal maturity,representing an adult onset of obesity.We wished to evaluate the effect ofthe dietary exposure time and the age at which animals are exposed to a high-fat and high-sucrose(HFS) diet to determine whether these factors may result in disparate outcomes,as there is evidence suggesting that these factors result in differential metabolic disturbances.Based on dietary exposure time,we hypothesized that rats fed an HFS diet for 14 weeks from weaning(HFS Weanling) would demonstrate an increase in knee joint damage scores,whereas rats exposed to the HFS diet for 4 weeks,starting at 12 weeks of age(HFS Adult) and rats exposed to a standard chow diet(Chow)would not display an increase in knee joint damage scores.Methods:Male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed either an HFS diet for 14 weeks from weaning(HFS Weanling) or an HFS diet for 4 weeks,starting at 12 weeks of age(HFS Adult).At sacrifice,joints were scored using the modified Mankin Criteria,and serum was analyzed for a defined subset of inflammatory markers(Interleukin-6,leptin,monocyte chemoattractant protein-1,and tumor necrosis factorα).Results:When the HFS Weanling and HFS Adult groups were compared,both groups had a similar percent of body fat,although the HFS Weanling group had a significantly greater body mass than the HFS Adult group.The HFS Weanling and HFS Adult animals had a significant increase in body mass and percentage of body fat when compared to the Chow group.Although knee joint damage scores were low in all 3 groups,we found,contrary to our hypothesis,that the HFS Adult group had statistically significant greater knee joint damage scores than the Chow and HFS Weanling groups.Furthermore,we observed that the HFS Weanling group did not have significant differences in knee joint damage scores relative to the Chow group.Conclusion:These findings indicate that the HFS Weanling animals were better able to cope with the dietary challenge of an HFS diet than the HFS Adult group.Interestingly,when assessing various serum proinflammatory markers,no significant differences were detected between the HTS Adult and HFS Weanling groups.Although details regarding the mechanisms underlying an increase in knee joint damage scores in the HFS Adult group remain to be elucidated,these findings indicate that dietary exposure time maybe less important than the age at which an HFS diet is introduced.Moreover,increases in serum proinflammatory mediators do not appear to be directly linked to knee joint damage scores in the HFS Weanling group animals but may be partially responsible for the observed knee joint damage in the adults over the very short time of exposure to the HFS diet.     

Health-related fitness knowledge growth in middle school years: Individual- and school-level correlates

BackgroundHealth-related fitness knowledge (HRFK) has been an essential concept for many health and physical education programs. There has been limited understanding and longitudinal investigation on HRFK growth. This longitudinal study examined HRFK growth and its individual- and school-level correlates in middle school years under 1 curriculum condition: Five for Life.MethodsParticipants were 12,044 students from 47 middle schools. Data were collected at both individual/participant and school/institution levels. Individual-level variables included gender, grade, and HRFK test scores. School-level variables included percentage of students receiving free and reduced meals (FARM), student-to-faculty ratio for physical education, and school academic performance (SAP). We used hierarchical linear modeling to examine HRFK 3-year growth in relation to individual- and school-level correlates.ResultsThe average HRFK score at 6th grade for females was 42.81% ± 1.32%. The predicted HRFK growth was 17.06% ± 1.02% per year, holding other factors constant. A 1-standard deviation increase in FARM correlated with a 14.68%-point decrease in predicted test score (p = 0.02). A 1-standard deviation increase in SAP was associated with an 11.90%-point increase in HRFK score. Males had a significantly lower growth rate than females during the middle school years (0.78%/year, p = 0.02).ConclusionThe result showed that both individual- and school-level variables such as gender, FARM, and SAP influenced HRFK growth. Educators should heed gender differences in growth curves and recognize the correlates of school-level variables.     

On-the-Job Training: Prescriptions and Practice

This article discusses the status of workplace training in the United States, describes a model of how to conduct effective on-the-job training, and presents the results of a questionnaire based on a model designed to assess on-the-job training practices aboard Navy ships. The model views the on-the-job trainer as a coach who guides the trainee through a task using three steps: 1) assessment, 2) training, and 3) evaluation. The questionnaire was sent to over 5,000 shipboard supervisors; 2,321 responded. Results indicate that nearly 50% of the Navy supervisors who responded are not as effective as they could be. The implications of these findings for the civilian workplace are discussed.     

The assessment of at-risk infants and toddlers with the Bayley Mental Scale and the Battelle Developmental Inventory: Beyond the data

The purpose of this study was to compare the usefulness of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID)-Mental Scales and the Battelle Developmental Inventory (BDI) in assessing the abilities of infants and toddlers from teen-parent families. The 34 children lived with their mothers, who ranged in age from 15 to 21. The results of the study indicate that these two developmental instruments cannot be used interchangeably and that one needs to look beyond the psychometric data in order to understand the results of infant and toddler assessment. The correlation between the BSID-Mental Development Index (MDI) and BDI Total score was −.03.     

Leveraging microgrants to support capacity-building workshops in low- and middle-income countries for meeting the Sustainable Development Goals

Twenty fifteen marked the year of assessment for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs that achieved the greatest success were those where evidence-based practice (EBP) interventions were implemented. The ability to practice evidence-based medicine is grounded in the creation of and access to medical literature that synthesizes research findings. The role that global health literature played in the success of the MDGs demonstrates that medical libraries and librarians have a role to play in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).Librarians can hold capacity-building workshops that provide instruction on how to access evidence-based literature and also train health professionals to conduct synthesis research. Research findings conducted by in-country health professionals are more likely to address issues being faced by local communities and will afford the possibility of obtaining the necessary evidence-based answers that can then be used to implement policies to resolve public health issues identified in the SDGs.This paper discusses how an international team of librarians leveraged funding from a Medical Library Association/Librarians without Borders/Elsevier Foundation/Research4Life grant to hold a capacity-building workshop in Zimbabwe and follow-up online trainings. The workshop focused on accessing evidence-based resources and conducting synthesis research. Outcomes included the creation and policy implementation of evidence-based knowledge products in alignment with local needs and galvanizing a multisectoral group of key individuals who have gone on to collaborate toward the vision of creating a Zimbabwe innovation hub. Looking ahead, such grants can be leveraged to conduct capacity-building to support knowledge translation and other local training needs.     

Evaluation of adverse drug reaction formatting in drug information mobile phone applications

Objective:To evaluate the differences in presentation (formatting) of adverse drug reaction (ADR) information within drug monographs in commonly used drug information (DI) mobile device applications.Methods:A cross-sectional analysis of ADR formatting of twenty commonly prescribed oral medications within seven DI mobile applications was performed. Databases were assessed for ADR information, including presence of placebo comparisons, severity of ADR, onset of ADR, formatting of ADRs in percentile (quantitative) format or qualitative format, whether references were used to cite information, and whether ADRs are grouped by organ system. Data was collected by two study investigators and discrepancies were resolved via consensus.Results:The seven DI mobile applications varied significantly on every analyzed ADR variable with the exception of ADR onset, which was absent in all databases. Significant differences were found for variables known to impact clinical judgment such as placebo comparisons and qualitative versus quantitative formatting. Placebo comparisons were most common among monographs in Lexicomp (30%) but were absent among monographs within other applications. Quantitative information was commonly used in most databases but was absent in Epocrates. Qualitative formatting was present in all Epocrates and Micromedex applications but absent in the majority of other applications. Substantial variations were also found in severity and grouping information.Conclusion:Substantial variation in ADR formatting exists among the most common DI mobile applications. These differences may translate into alternative interpretations of medical information and thus impact clinical judgment. Health care librarians and clinicians should consider ADR formatting when choosing between DI applications.