Injury Rehabilitation: A Qualitative Follow-up Study

Abstract

The current qualitative follow-up study was conducted to enhance the interpretability and meaningfulness of the findings emerging from a 5-week goal-setting intervention study with injured athletes. Semistructured interviews were conducted with a sample of 9 injured athletes, 3 from each of the three intervention study groups (goal-setting, social support control, and control), and cross-case summaries were inductively derived. The study highlighted the importance of individual difference variables, and the interaction of person and situational variables, including support from coaches and club, inability to train, weight gain, slowness of progress, physiotherapist support, and the importance of long-term outcome goals. Possible mechanisms for the observed effects of the goal-setting intervention included the effects of goal-setting on self-efficacy, attributions, perceptions of control, and attention.     

The flexible learning needs and preferences of regional occupational therapy students in Australia

This study aimed to explore the flexible learning needs and preferences of occupational therapy students from a regional Australian university. Participants (n?=?170) were surveyed using a quantitative survey tool. Findings were analysed using SPSS to determine significant differences between variable attributes of the student cohort. The survey found that students have complex and competing lifestyle demands, which impact on study. In particular, paid work was found to negatively influence study and the university experience. Traditional face-to-face learning suited most students, however, flexible learning options were preferable for students where paid work, family commitments and geographic location interfered with study. These results will help inform the design and implementation of flexible delivery courses for occupational therapy. Further research is required to explore the experiences of staff and students who are involved in health courses run by flexible delivery.     

Development of student–teacher relationships in rural early elementary classrooms

An increasing body of literature documents associations between student–teacher relationships, children's academic success, and children's social competence in school. Less is known about characteristics and processes involved in the quality of relationships between students and teachers, and little research has examined these issues with populations of young students and teachers living in rural communities. The current study examined the relationships between rural kindergarten and first-grade students and their teachers in spring of the school year, predicted by child demographic factors, child process factors, and teacher characteristics. Using a multi-level model to account for clustering of children in classrooms, children's behavior and literacy skills were examined as contributors to the teachers’ perceptions of the developing teacher–student relationship, focusing on their potential to mediate associations between more distal characteristics and teacher–student relationships. Controlling for relationship conflict in fall, boys and African American students were more likely to have relationships with teachers that were higher in conflict in spring. When behavior and literacy skills measures were added to the model, children's behavior mediated the effect of gender, such that behavior problems accounted for much of the variance in student–teacher conflict associated with gender. However, neither behavior problems nor literacy skills mediated the effects of minority status on conflict; African American students had poorer relationships with teachers regardless of behavior or literacy skills.     

Making the conceptual shift: teacher performance appraisal as professional growth

Often, the traditional forms of performance assessment are incongruent with the emerging view of schools as learning organizations. In this pilot study, the authors explored the use of action research as an alternative means of teacher performance appraisal. The findings suggest that action research holds great promise in incorporating teacher learning, continual growth and teacher ownership into the appraisal process. However, this process also necessitated a conceptual shift to connect teacher performance appraisal practices with professional learning.     

Phubbing friends: Understanding face threats from,and responses to,friends’ cell phone usage through the lens of politeness theory

The study examined friends’ phubbing (i.e., the act of snubbing a relational partner by using a cell phone in his/her presence), through the lens of politeness theory. Quantitative and qualitative data from 404 participants revealed that, although most accepted the behavior and did not view it as a face-threatening act (FTA), others perceived it as face threatening, particularly of positive face, eliciting varied negative emotions. Specific behaviors such as repeatedly looking at the phone or playing a game alone had the highest positive face-threat scores. Most chose not to respond to the FTA. Results indicated that increased perception of the behavior as face threatening was associated with higher reported likelihood of responding with politeness strategies, although no specific strategy emerged as the preferred response.     

Recent developments in HIV/AIDS prevention for Russian adolescents

This article reports on the educator qualities that are valued by Australian teachers involved in sexuality education in high schools. Focus groups were conducted with school sexuality education teachers in 19 high schools in five Australian states. Data indicated that teachers valued being trustworthy, being open and honest, being willing to listen, having a sense of humour, and being able to relate to the students, especially being able to relate in a trustworthy and confidential way. Also valued were being comfortable with one's own sexuality, being approachable and being flexible. These qualities are similar to those recommended in the literature in the 1970s and 1980s and correspond closely to the qualities sought by today's high school students. Australian schoolteachers currently enjoy a positive climate for teaching sexuality education, as do many European schoolteachers. This contrasts with the climate for many American teachers where Abstinence Until Marriage programme requirements place many restrictions on what can be taught and may compromise the expression of teacher qualities such as being non-judgemental, flexible, open and honest. The findings have implications for teacher professional development, pre-service teacher education training, and the selection of teachers to teach sexuality education.     

Development and Pilot Testing of a Food Safety Curriculum for Managers and Staff of Residential Childcare Institutions (RCCIs)

Food safety training materials, targeted for residential childcare institution (RCCI) staff of facilities of 20 residents or less, were developed, piloted, and evaluated. The goal was to assist in the implementation of a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP)‐based food safety plan as required by Food and Nutrition Service/United States Department of Agriculture. RCCI staff and instructor training manuals, Food Safety Basics: Food Safety Education for RCCIs was developed and pilot tested in RCCIs in both Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The program was evaluated by participants and pre‐/posttraining onsite inspector and microbial assessments. The core curriculum contained 3 modules and corresponding activities: Module 1: cause, prevention, and strategies to reduce foodborne illness; Module 2: components of a HACCP‐based food safety plan and standard operating procedures; and Module 3: actual food safety plan development, including instructions for implementation and corresponding monitoring procedures required. There were 50 to 82 RCCI staff members that attended 2 or 3 modules. Participants rated the modules 4.5 ± 0.4, 4.3 ± 0.4, and 4.4 ± 0.4 out of 5‐point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree) for teaching modules 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The evaluations assessed their understanding of key topic areas taught. Onsite inspections showed improvement in many critical food safety issues. Some deficiencies still appeared to be problematic, such as refrigerator temperature monitoring and issues with storage and cross‐contamination.     

A 10‐Year Review of the Food Science Summer Scholars Program: A Model for Research Training and for Recruiting Undergraduate Students into Graduate Programs and Careers in Food Science

Abstract: A pressing problem facing regulatory agencies, academia, and the food industry is a shortage of qualified food science graduates, particularly those with advanced degrees (that is, M.S. or Ph.D.). In 2000, the Cornell Institute of Food Science established the annual Food Science Summer Scholars Program as an experiential summer research program for undergraduate students with the goal of increasing the number of individuals enrolling in graduate programs in Food Science and entering careers in food science. In 2008, to explore expansion to other food science programs, the program also included 5 students placed at the Univ. of Massachusetts. Between 2000 and 2009, a total of 147 undergraduate students, representing a nationally and internationally diverse student body, have participated in the program. Sixty program participants have been recruited from nonfood science majors and 25 have been U.S. citizens representing traditionally underrepresented minorities. Forty‐five program alumni have completed graduate degrees with a food science or related major, and 56 alumni are currently pursuing graduate degrees in food science or related disciplines. Thirty program alumni are working in the food industry. The Food Science Summer Scholars Program at Cornell and the Univ. of Massachusetts has proved to be an effective program for recruiting students into graduate programs and careers in food science. Furthermore, the Summer Scholars Program at Cornell and the Univ. of Massachusetts serves as a model for the development of a cooperative multi‐institutional food science summer research program for undergraduates to further increase the supply of students for graduate study and careers in food science.     

Changes in perceptions of studying for the GCSE among Year 10 and Year 11 pupils

This research aimed to explore whether pupils’ perceptions of studying for the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) altered during the two‐year period of study of this qualification. Six hundred and forty four pupils from eight schools in outer London completed a self‐report questionnaire on two occasions, once in Year 10 and once in Year 11, which elicited their responses to statements about studying. Overall, throughout the course pupils remained anxious about coursework, examinations and homework and the time required for them. There was little evidence that pupils developed an increased level of understanding about the demands of the GCSE or a wider range of study strategies to support effective learning. That the students in this research remained as uncertain about the demands of coursework and the quality of their work in Year 11 as Year 10 warrants attention from those who plan and deliver the GCSE.     

Retaining a foothold on the slippery paths of academia: university women,indirect discrimination,and the academic marketplace

This paper examines indirect discrimination in Australian universities that tends to obstruct and delay women’s academic careers. The topic is defined and contextualised via a 1998 speech by the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Sex Discrimination Commissioner, juxtaposed with a brief contemporaneous exemplar. The paper discusses the prevalence of women among casual and fixed‐term academic workers, and the contrasting low numbers of women in senior academic positions. It is argued that the neo‐liberal ‘marketisation’ of higher education, which still prevails, has fostered a number of indirectly discriminatory practices and conditions that substantially disadvantage women. A selection of studies of the problem are critiqued. It is argued that a broad statistical methodology is inadequate due to its tendency to ‘homogenise’ the academy and its component individuals, in the process giving scope for unjustified optimism among university policy‐makers. A particulate approach is advocated, acknowledging the wide variation between and within universities, and the range of hidden difficulties individual women academics can face. It is concluded that despite apparent reforms over the past decade, the situation of women has improved little in practical terms.