Testing the Feasibility of Fidelity Evaluation in a Multisite,Multiprogram Initiative

Monitoring fidelity of implementation is a critical task when initiating evidence-based programs. This pilot study sought to identify best practices in a fidelity monitoring process and determine the feasibility of continuing a fidelity monitoring process with a multisite, multiprogram initiative. A fidelity log was created for each of 11 curricula, and data were entered online directly by educators. Analysis included 173 fidelity logs representing five curricula; qualitative and quantitative data were analyzed. Overall fidelity scores were promising and results indicate that fidelity monitoring in such a large program is feasible and was generally well-received by participants.     

Cross-modality contrast: Exteroceptive context habituation enhances taste neophobia and conditioned taste aversions

The relationship between absolute and relative stimulus novelty was examined within the context of the conditioned taste aversion paradigm in which the relative novelty of the conditioned interoceptive stimulus was manipulated by differential exteroceptive context habituation. Rats received similar isolation histories but either 5 or 30 days of habituation to the test environment prior to treatment. One group was administered lithium chloride following saccharin consumption, a second group was administered isotonic saline following saccharin consumption, and a third group was administered saline after water consumption. The animals habituated for 30 days exhibited greater conditioned avoidance and greater neophobic avoidance of saccharin than did animals habituated for only 5 days. The results are interpreted in terms of a cross-modality stimulus contrast effect which implicates context habituation as an important parameter of both taste neophobia and taste aversion learning.     

TEACHING RESEARCH IN GERONTOLOGY: TOWARD A CUMULATIVE MODEL

In this article, we consider different approaches to teaching research methods in gerontology across a continuum of educational program levels. Our goal is to offer a conceptual framework and stimulate productive discussion of key issues and challenges in teaching research in gerontology. It is our belief that education in gerontology should include some level of training in research methodologies across all levels of gerontology instruction. Therefore, we have sought to identify those components of research training most appropriate for each level of gerontological education. Thus, basic understanding of research methods is appropriate at the associate's degree level and introductory exposure to basic issues involved in conducting research with elders provides a necessary backdrop to undergraduate programs. More in-depth understanding of gerontological research methods, particularly those involved in applied research, is a component of quality master's level programs. Finally, in-depth knowledge and the ability to apply distinctively gerontological research methods are necessary for conducting advanced original research at the doctoral level.     

Things Fall Apart and Come Together: Using the Visual for Reflection in Alternative Teacher Education Programmes

In this article, we focus on the use of the visual for reflection in ‘alternative’ pre‐service teacher education and, in particular, we address the question: How and what can we learn about teacher education using the visual? By way of illustration, we focus on the use of pre‐service teachers’ photographs in a public exhibition, participatory video documentary production and pre‐service teachers’ use of photographs in their professional teaching portfolios. The article draws from research done in relation to three alternative pre‐service teacher education projects based at McGill University in Canada and the University of KwaZulu‐Natal in South Africa.     

A longitudinal,quantitative study of student attitudes towards audio feedback for assessment

This paper reports on the findings of a three-year longitudinal study investigating the experiences of postgraduate level students who were provided with audio feedback for their assessment. Results indicated that students positively received audio feedback. Overall, students indicated a preference for audio feedback over written feedback. No statistically significant differences were found between male and female students’ attitudes, suggesting that both sexes held similar attitudes towards audio feedback. Students also indicated a preference for audio feedback that was recorded simply and returned promptly over delayed, more sophisticatedly recorded and edited feedback.     

Cooperating Teachers' Perspectives Under Scrutiny: A comparative analysis of Australia and Canada

The ways in which cooperating teachers give shape and meaning to their work in practicum settings is one of the most critical elements of initial teacher education. This international comparison draws upon surveys of Australian and Canadian cooperating teachers. The global contrast highlights taken‐for‐granted assumptions in local settings that in some instances are cause for celebration and in other instances concern. The comparison of the two settings illustrates, among other things: some striking similarities in the profiles of cooperating teachers; important differences with respect to the cooperating teachers' preparation and remuneration for their role in practicum settings; and deeper complexities regarding the relationship between schools and universities.     

Sexual victimization and adolescent weight regulation practices: a test across three community based samples

OBJECTIVE: This study had four objectives: 1) to examine the association between sexual victimization and weight regulation across three samples of adolescent girls, 2) to assess whether sexual victimization is associated with more extreme forms of weight regulation in girls, 3) to discern whether sexual victimization has implications for the use of multiple forms of weight regulation, and 4) to address the role of physical victimization in explaining these relationships. METHOD: Data from three separate samples of 9th-12th graders were used to test these hypotheses. Girls from the upper Midwest responded to survey questions related to victimization and weight regulation in a largely urban sample (N = 2,086), a rural sample (N = 2,629), and a statewide sample (N = 966). RESULTS: Logistic regression revealed that sexual victimization was consistently associated with weight regulation in adolescent girls, independent of the effects of physical victimization. In the urban sample, being sexually victimized was associated with an increase in the probability of purging by 18% relative to not being sexually victimized. Sexual victimization was associated more strongly with extreme forms of weight regulation and significantly discriminated whether girls would choose multiple weight regulation forms. CONCLUSIONS: Sexual victimization contributes unique variance to the probability that girls will practice weight regulation techniques. Data from three independent samples confirms that being violated sexually places girls at risk for various health compromising eating behaviors.     

Reconciling multiple sources of influence: Longitudinal associations among perceived parent,closest friend,and popular peer injunctive norms and adolescent substance use

Prospective associations over a 5-year period were examined among perceived parent, closest friend, and popular peer injunctive norms and the onset and frequency of adolescent substance use within a diverse (53% female, 45.5% White non-Hispanic, 22.3% Hispanic, 21.5% Black, 1% Asian, and 6.4% another race) sample of 868 seventh- and eighth-grade adolescents from 2012 to 2017. Analyses revealed adolescents' substance use norms were more lenient than perceptions of their parents' and stricter than perceptions of their closest friends'. Stricter perceptions of parent and closest friend norms, but not popular peer norms, were significantly associated with a later onset of alcohol, marijuana, and cigarette use, and the magnitude of the effect of each source' on later substance use varied across development.