THE ROLE OF EDUCATION IN A PROGRAM TO TREAT DEPRESSION IN OLDER WOMEN

This article reports on the crucial role of education in the Social Health Outreach Program (SHOP), a social network intervention designed to treat clinically depressed older women. The role of education in current psychological and medical therapies for depression is discussed, as is the educator's view that education is interventionist by nature and indispensable in transformative programs that aim to strengthen personal, economic, and social resources. The evolution of the role of education in SHOP'S social therapy is outlined, and its modalities—information‐sharing, skills training, and intellectual stimulation—are described. We show how, as a result of participant demand, the educational content of SHOP has gradually expanded during the program's four‐year history. We point out that, in SHOP, education functions as a tool for perspective transformation, during which participants are sensitized to “blame‐the‐victim” biases inherent in psychological and medical approaches to treating depression. Participants learn they are not the problem; rather, they suffer from a role‐determined, social identity deficit. SHOP'S current format is described, and the program is recommended to adult educators for use in a variety of settings. We conclude that, though not therapeutic in and of itself, education acts as an “enabling tool,” playing a crucial role in implementing SHOP'S social‐change therapy.     

Use of task-value instructional inductions for facilitating engagement and conceptual change

This study explored the relationship between task values, engagement, and conceptual change. One hundred and sixty-six under graduate students were randomly assigned to one of three task value instructional inductions (utility, attainment, and control) to determine whether induced task values would result in different degrees of engagement and conceptual change when reading a refutation text about the common cold. It was hypothesized that the participants in the utility, attainment, and control conditions would differ in their engagement, and degree of conceptual change.     

‘The torment of every seminary’: the teaching of French in British schools, 1780–1830

This article reconsiders the way in which the French language was taught in British schools from 1780 to 1830. In particular, it is shown that (contrary to recent claims) the use of recitation‐ and conversation‐based techniques, as opposed to rule‐based grammatical learning, persisted well into the 1820s, both in influential pedagogic textbooks and in the practical teaching methods favoured by certain schools. In order to reveal the extent of this trend, several neglected sources – such as Nicolas Dufief’s Nature Displayed in Her Mode of Teaching Language to Man (1804) and Arthur Hill and Matthew Hill’s Public Education (1822) – are assessed in some detail. In essence, this article argues that the favoured methods used to teach French in British schools in the early nineteenth century were far more diverse and heterogeneous than is usually acknowledged.     

“Is the friendship worth keeping:” Gender differences in communicating forgiveness in friendships

Although forgiveness plays an integral role in friendship maintenance, interpersonal communication scholarship has largely overlooked how transgressions and forgiveness are negotiated between friends. This study focuses on gender differences to develop a typology of relational transgressions in friendships. Two hundred and thirty survey respondents (116 women and 114 men) described relational transgressions in their friendships, the perceived severity of these transgressions, and strategies used to communicate forgiveness. A combination of MANCOVA and inductive analyses reveals gender differences. While male transgressions typically involve encroaching on other intimate relationships and theft, female transgressions emphasize disclosing personal communication beyond the friendship’s boundaries. Conflicts between male friends could escalate from verbal to physical aggression, whereas female friends were likely to sabotage other close relationships that threatened the friendship. Finally, males preferred to communicate forgiveness using the minimizing strategy, while female friends generally favored the discussion and conditional forgiveness strategies. Overall, the perceived severity of a transgression was positively related to use of the discussion and conditional forgiveness strategies, and negatively related to the minimizing strategy. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Why unreal punishments in response to unreal crimes might actually be a really good thing

In this article I explore ways to argue about punishment of personal representations in virtual reality. I will defend the idea that such punishing might sometimes be morally required. I offer four different lines of argument: one consequentialistic, one appealing to an idea of appropriateness, one using the notion of organic wholes, and one starting from a supposed inability to determine the limits of the extension of the moral agent. I conclude that all four approaches could, in some cases, justify punishing a virtual reality representation; an avatar. As a consequence of my conclusion, I suggest that our institutionalized criminal justice system must be broadened in scope and punitive measures, in order to cover the new and difficult cases arising in virtual reality.     

National health innovation systems: Clustering the OECD countries by innovative output in healthcare using a multi indicator approach

The importance of innovation in healthcare has increased within the last decades as challenges, like rising costs and an aging demographic, have to be solved. The degree of innovativeness in healthcare is strongly influenced by the National Health Innovation System, which as a sectoral innovation system encompasses a wide variety of actors and related knowledge. Despite the highly practical relevance of the topic, there are only a few studies that analyze innovation in healthcare on a national level. Thus, this study is a starting point and, building on the theoretical framework of national innovation systems, answers the following questions: “Can countries be grouped by their innovation output in healthcare and do those groups differ in factors describing the healthcare system? Do countries with strong national innovation systems also have strong national health innovation systems and vice versa?” We compare the healthcare innovation output of 30 OECD countries using a multi-indicator approach and categorize them into four distinct groups using cluster analysis. The cluster consisting of the Scandinavian countries, the Netherlands and Switzerland shows the highest innovation output measured in knowledge production and knowledge commercialization. Surprisingly, these countries, with the exception of Switzerland, only rank in the medium group when considering the entire national innovation system. Policymakers and researchers might be particularly interested in studying the healthcare systems of these countries.     

Slavery,Memory, and Museum Display in Baltimore: The Great Blacks in Wax and the Reginald F. Lewis

Abstract This paper meditates upon a conundrum: Can there be a right way to represent the traumatic experience of Atlantic slavery within the context of a museum setting? The analysis deals with the question by focusing on the radically contrasting museological, aesthetic, and ethical codes of the Great Blacks in Wax Museum, and the Reginald Lewis Museum, both situated in Baltimore, Maryland. Three key sites are isolated for discussion: the names of the museums, their approaches to the topic of the Middle Passage, and lynching. While both museums have made important cultural contributions to the public memorialization of highly charged subjects, the Great Blacks in Wax emerges as the more radical institution, closely in touch with the dynamic and creative museum aesthetic of the wider Black Atlantic Diaspora, and of Brazil in particular.     

Linking early alert systems and student retention: a survival analysis approach

Higher education institutions are increasingly seeking technological solutions to not only enhance the learning environment but also support students. In this study, we explored the case of an early alert system (EAS) at a regional university engaged in both on-campus and online teaching. Using a total of 16,142 observations captured between 2011 and 2013, we examined the relationship between EAS and the student retention rate. The results indicate that when controlling for demographic, institution, student performance and workload variables, the EAS is able to identify students who have a significantly higher risk of discontinuing from their studies. This implies that early intervention strategies are effective in addressing student retention, and thus an EAS is able to provide actionable information to the student support team.     

Pre-kindergarten child care and behavioral outcomes among children of immigrants

The school transition model suggests that children's transitions into formal schooling can have lasting and profound implications for their educational careers, though this model is rarely used to understand the outcomes of children of immigrants. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K), a nationally representative sample of kindergarteners in 1998–1999, we examine the pre-kindergarten child care arrangements of children of immigrants and how these care arrangements are associated with children's behavior. We find that minority and immigrant children are less likely than their native-born white counterparts to be enrolled in center-based care and other care, compared to parental care, prior to kindergarten. We also find that ethnic origin is an important predictor of child care usage. Finally, though center-based care, on average, is not independently associated with children's behavior in kindergarten, the association between center-based care and behaviors varies by race and immigrant status. Broadly, these findings underscore the importance of understanding how native- and foreign-born children experience the transition to schooling, a critical period in the life course.     

School bullying,subjective well-being,and resilience

The aim of the current study was to examine the role of resilience in the victimization experiences of students and their subjective well-being as well as to explore gender and age-related effects. Initially, 558 students (52.15% male) from grades 6 to 10 participated in the study completing The Student Aggression and Victimization Questionnaire, The Mental Health Continuum, and the Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale. One-hundred and twenty-seven (22.8%) students were excluded from the final analysis, as they did not report any victimization experience during the past 3 months. Males in all year levels reported higher levels of well-being and resilience compared with females. No gender differences were found in victimization experiences. Languishing students were found to be at higher risk of experiencing serious victimization. Resilience was not found to moderate the effects of victimization on mental health, but a higher level of resilience appeared to be related to more positive well-being for boys and younger students. Limitations of the study and implications for anti-bullying interventions are briefly discussed.