Sexual behaviour profiles of HIV-positive youth in the Netherlands

Young people living with HIV are challenged when it comes to exploring their sexuality. Their sex education is hampered by the fact that their preferences and attitudes towards sexual behaviour are little known about. In this study from the Netherlands, Q-methodology was used to identify sizeable and meaningful sub-groups sharing common attitudes and viewpoints. Thirty of 48 eligible HIV-positive young people aged 12–21 years treated in one of the four Dutch HIV centres rank-ordered 45 statements on the topic. Thereafter, they explained their ranking. By-person factor analysis identified five distinct sexual behaviour profiles (SBPs): (a) safer sex & disclosure to steady partner; (b) motivated by faith and culture; (c) disclosure to good friends, values peer support; (d) conscientious, worries about disclosure and future; (e) self-confident, faith and family are important. Profiles differ in terms of the roles of culture and religion, the influence of family and friends, personal views about disclosure of HIV status, knowing the transmission mode, and viral load. Study results indicate that different approaches to sexual health education are required based on these different orientations. Q-sorts and SBPs may be helpful in discussing sexual behaviour with HIV-positive young people and in developing tailored strategies to meet their interests and needs.     

TEACHING ‘OUT-OF-FIELD’ AS A BOUNDARY-CROSSING EVENT: FACTORS SHAPING TEACHER IDENTITY

Teaching ‘out-of-field’ occurs when teachers teach a subject for which they are not qualified. The issues around this increasingly common practice are not widely researched and are under-theorised. A qualitative pilot study using teacher interviews in 3 rural schools examined meanings, support mechanisms and teacher identities associated with out-of-field teaching. A thematic analysis isolated factors influencing whether teachers self-assessed their practice and identities as out-of-field. The ‘boundary between fields’ model was developed to emphasise support mechanisms, contextual factors and personal resources that influenced the nature of teachers’ negotiation of subject boundaries and its impact on professional identity. These findings provide insight for policy makers, school leaders and teacher educators into the conditions required for such teaching to be considered learning opportunities.     

Communication as Changing the Negotiation Game

This article explores the implications of my research on bargaining and conflict management for formal and informal negotiations. In particular, I focus on ways to differentiate conflict issues, prevent premature closure, engage in conflict framing and reframing, and join together through collective sense making. I urge negotiators to change the name of the game through reaching new understandings and exploring alternative spaces of actions that transform conflicts rather than settle for easy compromises.     

Cultivating mind fitness through mindfulness training: Applied neuroscience

Mindfulness reduces distress, promotes optimal health, improves attentional control, mental agility, emotional intelligence, and situational awareness. Stress management and cognitive performance in Marines who spent more hours practicing Mindfulness Based Mind Fitness Training were superior to those soldiers who practiced fewer hours. Students receiving mindfulness training without practice demonstrated no significant change. The literature suggests that mindfulness training designed to inform rather than to train may not produce measurable results. Systematic, effortful, skill‐building programs are indicated.     

Parental control in Latino families: an integrated review of the literature

Using social information processing and cultural change models as explanatory frameworks, this article reviews the literature on Latino parental control and its implications for child development. It is argued that the use of parental control in Latino families may have motivational roots in cultural childrearing goals such as familismo (familism), respeto (respect), and educación (moral education). Consideration of these underpinnings, in conjunction with psychological and methodological issues, helps to explain variability in the use of Latino parental control and its effect on child development. Recommendations for future research include refinement of control and acculturation instruments, and attention to both contextual and individual variables.     

高职基于"行动导向"教学改革的几点思考

当前高职基于"行动导向"的教学改革正处于发展的初期阶段,及时总结教学改革的经验和教训,对推进教学改革进程是必要的.文章归纳和总结了教学改革的基本目标与要求,调查了教学改革的现状和存在的问题,并提出了解决问题的对策.     

Influence of Family Perceptions of Acting White on Acculturative Stress in African American College Students

This study examined family-oriented stressors on acculturative stress in 83 African American college students attending a predominately White university. Results showed that family pressure for participants not to acculturate, pressure to maintain ethnic group language, perception of Acting White, and acculturation level were related to higher acculturative stress for participants. After controlling for acculturation and general stress, family pressure to maintain the ethnic group’s language and perception of Acting White accounted for a statistically significant proportion of the variance in acculturation stress. The findings emphasize the need to recognize culture-specific stressors of college students. Implications for mental health providers are discussed.     

Self‐determined blended learning: a case study of blended learning design

Higher education has been actively encouraged to find more effective and flexible delivery models to provide all students with access to quality learning experiences yet also meet institutional imperatives for efficiency and accountability. Blended learning, commonly defined as an integration of traditional face‐to‐face and online approaches to instruction (Garrison & Kanuka, 2004 Garrison, D.R. and Kanuka, H. 2004. Blended learning: Uncovering its transformative potential in higher education. Internet and Higher Education, 7(2): 95–105.  [Google Scholar]; Graham, 2006 Graham, C.R. 2006. “Blended learning systems: Definition, current trends and future directions”. In Handbook of blended learning: Global perspectives, local designs, Edited by: Bonk, C.J. and Graham, C.R. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.  [Google Scholar]; Macdonald, 2008 Macdonald, J. 2008. Blended learning and online tutoring , (2nd ed.), Hampshire, UK: Gower.  [Google Scholar]), is now proposed as one solution that addresses both student learning and higher education organisational needs. Successful blended learning, however, is more than a simple integration of information and communication technologies with face‐to‐face approaches. This paper proposes, describes and evaluates a pedagogical approach to blended learning focused on learners and learning. First, we interrogate the literature related to blended learning to show how various constructions of blended learning may be driven by teacher‐centric or learner‐centric conceptions. Next, planning a learner‐centric blended learning design for a core unit in a first year higher education course is described. The design is then evaluated using a mixed methodology in which the students’ voices illuminate their experiences of blended learning unit design with regards to engagement, learning and self‐determination.     

What is on our children’s minds? An analysis of children’s writings as reflections of group‐specific socialisation practices

In the present study it has been examined how children’s creative writing tasks may contribute to teachers’ understanding of children’s values. Writings of 300 elementary school children about what they would do if they were the boss of The Netherlands were obtained and seemed to reflect different types of values. Most children were concerned with charity. Also, writings concerned materialist values and socio‐political topics, such as human rights, power and tolerance. Analyses of group‐specific differences showed girls to write more about charity and health when compared to boys. Children from low socio‐economic backgrounds wrote less about environmental issues compared to children from middle and high socio‐economic backgrounds. Children from ethnic minority backgrounds who wrote more about obtaining goods for themselves and less about environmental issues than Dutch‐origin children. In addition, age differences were found in line with an increase in social and moral development. These differences are discussed in light of differential socialisation practices.