Ten Years of LibQual: A Study of Qualitative and Quantitative Survey Results at the University of Mississippi 2001-2010

This article analyzes quantitative adequacy gap scores and coded qualitative comments from LibQual surveys at the University of Mississippi from 2001 to 2010, looking for relationships between library policy changes and LibQual results and any other trends that emerged. Analysis found no relationship between changes in policy and survey results but did identify a number of trends across the survey period.     

Assessing the Validity of a Stage Measure on Physical Activity in a Population-Based Sample of Individuals With Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes

This study was designed to test the validity of a transtheoretical model's physical activity (PA) stage measure with intention and different intensities of behavior in a large population-based sample of adults living with diabetes (Type 1 diabetes, n?=?697; Type 2 diabetes, n?=?1,614) and examine different age groups. The overall specificity (classified correctly as inactive) for Type 1 diabetes was 69.3% based on the percentage of individuals in precontemplation, contemplation, and preparation not meeting Canada's PA guidelines. Sensitivity (classified correctly as active) was 82.5% based on the proportion of active participants in action and maintenance. In the Type 2 diabetes group, the overall specificity and sensitivity was 63.9% and 88.2%, respectively. No significant differences were found between the diabetes groups for stage distribution patterns, and sensitivity and specificity values. The majority of the study hypotheses related to intention and behaviors were confirmed, providing further supportive evidence for the utility of this PA staging measure for the diabetes population.     

Online activities of urban Malaysian adolescents: report of a pilot study

The literacy practices of many communities today show new ways of meaning making in the contemporary, technological and digital culture. A number of Malaysian adolescents belong to this culture. This pilot study reports the preliminary findings of a larger study aimed at describing the online activities of Malaysian adolescents. Fifty‐four participants from an urban secondary school in Penang took part in this study. One finding showed that the percentages of language use on the Internet were: 80.6 per cent in English, 10.6 per cent in Bahasa Malaysia and 8.8 per cent in Chinese. In addition, the study also revealed some common websites that these adolescents frequented. The findings point to the need to investigate the extent of these online literacy practices beyond school among the adolescent population in Malaysia and to look into the implications for ESL education.     

Leveraging insights from mainstream gameplay to inform STEM game design: great idea, but what comes next?

This response to Leah A. Bricker and Phillip Bell??s paper, GodMode is his video game name, examines their assertion that the social nexus of gaming practices is an important factor to consider for those looking to design STEM video games. I propose that we need to go beyond the investigation into which aspects of games play a role in learning, and move on to thinking about how these insights can actually inform game design practice.     

The Legacy of Early Insecurity Histories in Shaping Adolescent Adaptation to Interparental Conflict

This study tested whether the mediational pathway involving interparental conflict, adolescent emotional insecurity, and their psychological problems was altered by their earlier childhood histories of insecurity. Participants included 230 families, with the first of the five measurement occasions occurring when children were in first grade (M_age = 7 years). Results indicated that interparental conflict was associated with increases in adolescent emotional insecurity that, in turn, predicted subsequent increases in their psychological problems. Childhood insecurity predicted adolescent maladjustment 5 years later even after considering contemporaneous family experiences. Moderator findings revealed that adolescents with relatively higher levels of insecurity in childhood evidenced disproportionately greater and reduced levels of insecurity in the context of high and low levels of interparental conflict, respectively.     

PROGRAM EVALUATION OF THE PREPaRE SCHOOL CRISIS PREVENTION AND INTERVENTION TRAINING CURRICULUM

This study details a program evaluation of the PREPa RE School Crisis Prevention and Intervention Training Curriculum (PREPa RE), conducted in the United States and Canada between 2009 and 2011. Significant improvements in crisis prevention and intervention attitudes and knowledge were shown among 875 Crisis Prevention and Preparedness workshop (Workshop 1) participants and 1,422 Crisis Intervention and Recovery workshop (Workshop 2) participants on matched pre‐tests and post‐tests. Results indicated high participant satisfaction for both Workshop 1 and Workshop 2. A qualitative analysis of workshop evaluation comments indicated strengths regarding workshop aims, materials, and activities, as well as suggestions for improvement, such as utilizing more active learning components. The use of these findings in the PREPa RE curriculum revision is discussed.     

USING IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING TO INCREASE TEACHERS’ ADHERENCE AND QUALITY TO BEHAVIOR SUPPORT PLANS

Evidence‐based practices within a response‐to‐intervention framework must be implemented with adequate treatment integrity to promote student outcomes. However, research findings indicate educators struggle to implement interventions and logistical considerations may limit the utility of performance feedback, an evidence‐based treatment integrity promotion strategy. This study evaluates the effect of implementation planning, a treatment integrity promotion strategy that includes detailed logistical planning and barrier identification adapted from an adult behavior change theory from heath psychology (i.e., the Health Action Process Approach). A multiple baseline across participants design was used to evaluate teachers’ adherence to a behavior support plan as well as their quality of implementation. Results indicated that after intervention training, adherence was initially low and variable, and quality of implementation was moderate to high and variable, but both adherence and quality increased and became less variable after implementation planning. The increases in implementation were more pronounced for two teachers, whose students also had subsequent improvements in their academic engagement and disruptive behavior. These findings highlight the relationship between adequate levels of treatment integrity and student outcomes as well as provide initial support for implementation planning.     

Coloring the College Pathway: A More Culturally Responsive Approach to College Readiness and Access for Students of Color in Secondary Schools

Considering the current structural challenges that exist for students of color (SOC) in accessing a higher education, an epistemology is needed that better represents the complex process SOC endure in this pursuit. College access literature either proposes stages (Hossler and Gallagher in Coll Univ 62(3):207–221, 1987), contextual layers (Perna in Higher education: handbook of theory and research. Springer, Amsterdam, 2006) or a pipeline approach (Horn in Confronting the odds: students at risk and the pipeline to higher education. National Center for Education Statistics, Washington, D.C., 1997; Cabrera and LaNasa in Understanding the colleges choice of disadvantaged. Jossey-Bass Inc, San Francisco, 2000a) that do not consider the additional resources and skills SOC must possess in navigating their educational pathways. This paper presents findings from two larger studies to propose an approach that colors outside the standard college access and readiness frameworks and uses a more culturally responsive approach to consider the complex and auspicious ways in which SOC navigate their college pathways. Culturally responsive recommendations for increasing college readiness and access for SOC in secondary schools will be provided based on the perspectives of SOC themselves.     

Hospitalized youth and child abuse: A systematic examination of psychiatric morbidity and clinical severity

Many children and adolescents who require psychiatric hospitalization have been physically or sexually abused, yet the association between reported histories of abuse and the complexity and severity of mental illness among psychiatrically hospitalized youth is poorly described with regard to current inpatient psychiatric practice. We sought to determine the association between histories of abuse and psychiatric complexity and severity in psychiatrically hospitalized youth including comorbidity patterns, psychotropic medication use, reason for admission and length of hospitalization. A systematic chart review was performed on 1433 consecutive psychiatric hospitalizations of children and adolescents that occurred over a 10-month period. Children with a history of abuse were more likely to be diagnosed with multiple DSM-IV-TR disorders than non-traumatized children. A history of sexual abuse was associated with more medication use than in their non-traumatized peers and a higher likelihood of treatment with antipsychotic medications, both at admission and discharge. Physical and sexual abuse were independently associated with increased length of stays, with exposure to both physical and sexual abuse associated with a 2-day increase in duration of hospitalization compared to non-traumatized patients. The findings from this study draw attention to the adverse impact of abuse on psychiatric morbidity and complexity and suggest the need for trauma-informed treatment in psychiatric hospital settings.     

SOAR versus SQ3R: a test of two study systems

Although researchers have long investigated ways to improve study habits and raise achievement, few studies compare study strategy systems with one another. No study to date has compared the long popular SQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review) system with the more modern SOAR (Select, Organize, Associate, Regulate) system. This study directly compared SQ3R and SOAR to determine which is most effective. College students trained in the SQ3R or SOAR system and given corresponding study materials used their respective method to study a text in preparation for a test assessing fact, relationship, and concept learning. Results confirmed that students who used the SOAR system outperformed those who used the SQ3R system and learned 20 % more relationships, 14 % more facts, and 13 % more concepts. Results were attributed to SOAR’s cognitive processing advantages over SQ3R.