Mental health professionals' experiences reporting suspected child abuse and maltreatment

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to provide systematic data on the experiences of mental health professionals (e.g., psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers) who reported cases of suspected child abuse and maltreatment concerning their clients. METHOD: Mail surveys were completed by 258 mental health professionals known to have reported a case of suspected child abuse and maltreatment to the New York State Central Register (NYSCR) in 1993. Subjects were asked to complete a survey describing their experience with making reports, referring to a specific case they reported. RESULTS: About 40% did not inform the client about the limits of confidentiality until reportable material came up. Most clinicians reported that informing clients about the limits of confidentiality did not deter them from entering treatment. Many clinicians learned about abuse/maltreatment after approximately 3 months into therapy. Even very experienced clinicians usually consulted with others before making the report. Clinicians most typically informed the client about the report directly and before it was made, but did not call the NYSCR in the presence of the client. Following the report, most clinicians performed additional activities such as calling clients and scheduling additional sessions. When clients evidenced resistance to continuing therapy, it usually dissipated after a brief period of time. In over 72% of the cases, making the report did not disrupt the relationship and in many instances it was helpful in the therapeutic process; about 27% were continuously resistant or terminated therapy shortly after the report was made. CONCLUSIONS: Implications for practice, training, program development, and research are discussed.     

International Children's Literature

Discusses the definition and contributions of international children's literature. Presents an overview of the International Board on Books for Young Children (IBBY), the Hans Christian Andersen Award and 2004 nominees, and the International Children's Digital Library (ICDL). Includes recommendations and summaries of 12 books.     

Referential perspective and instruction: A study on teacher-student interaction and text remembering

The aim of this paper is to study the role ofteacher-student interaction, in the acquisitionof text comprehension and memory skills from asocio-cultural approach. In our view, one ofthe most important areas of neglect in cognitive research in this field is the interactional nature of that development. We intend to establish the way in which teacher-student interaction and, specially, the use of some specific semiotic means mayfacilitate the acquisition and internalizationof general strategies for understanding andremembering expository texts. The role ofreferential perspective (Wertsch, 1989) in theinternalization of complex text study actionsis analysed.The task was to study three expository textsthat were similar in their structure. Thecontent of the texts was analysed in terms ofidea-units (Meyer, 1984). Each text was formedby idea-units from three different levels: mainideas, secondary ideas and details. A categorysystem for the analysis of study and recall ofthe text is developed. In the study phase theanalysis proceeded in two steps: study actionsand text ideas. In the recall phase, two types ofindexes (number of ideas and degree ofclustering) were considered. For the analysisof instructional actions, both the nature ofinstruction and referential perspective wasrecorded.     

Identification and reporting of child maltreatment by Head Start personnel: attitudes and experiences

A two-part questionnaire was administered to 143 Head Start personnel in order to determine how personal characteristics of the Head Start workers and the characteristics of the families they serve, affect the identification and reporting of child maltreatment. Of additional interest was whether some forms of maltreatment, once identified, would be more likely to be reported than other forms of maltreatment. The results support the efficacy of educational programs in child maltreatment for increasing the identification and reporting of maltreatment by workers. They also indicate that there are complex interactions between certain characteristics of the reporter (e.g., educational level) and prior training in maltreatment identification. Finally, neglect, although more frequently identified by the workers, appears to be least likely of all forms of maltreatment to be reported to official sources. Results are discussed in light of their implications for future research and practical application.     

Mediation in the relationship among EL status,vocabulary, and science reading comprehension

The authors investigated the mediating effects of general academic and science-specific vocabulary on science reading comprehension among English learners (ELs) of varied proficiency. The sample included 169 regular education Grade 7 students (86 current ELs; 83 former ELs) enrolled in 1 urban school in Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The results indicated that both vocabulary types—rarely explicitly taught at the secondary level—were significant contributors to reading comprehension, above and beyond EL status. The full parallel mediation model accounted for 55% of the variance in science reading comprehension. Notably, the mediating effects of both vocabulary types were significant and statistically similar in size, yet, not sufficient to fully explain ELs' reading scores. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

The contribution of rubrics to the validity of performance assessment: a study of the conservation–restoration and design undergraduate degrees

Rubrics have attained considerable importance in the authentic and sustainable assessment paradigm; nevertheless, few studies have examined their contribution to validity, especially outside the domain of educational studies. This empirical study used a quantitative approach to analyse the validity of a rubrics-based performance assessment. Raters evaluated the performance of 84 first-year university students producing service-learning projects for the Conservation–Restoration and Design degrees. The study data comprised the 9240 scores given by two teachers and three student tutors, who assessed the students’ projects on three occasions during the semester. Factor analyses confirmed that the students attained the expected learning outcomes and made significant learning progress. This learning progress was also corroborated by analyses of variance. The attainment of the learning goals and the evidence of learning progress demonstrated the validity of the inferences drawn from the assessment system. In addition, the results highlighted the need to consider rubrics as a first-order teaching resource and not only as a scoring tool.     

Does the Affiliation of Universities to External Organizations Foster Diversity in Private Higher Education? Chile in Comparative Perspective

The expansion of private sectors of higher education has usually been regarded as a factor of diversification in higher education systems. Some of this differentiation has been found to arise from the affiliation of private institutions with organizations outside the field of higher education. This article reports the results of a study of this form of interorganizational relationship in private universities in Chile. Cases include universities founded or sponsored by religious, business and military organizations. A typology of private universities is proposed, on the basis of the forms affiliation (or its absence), was observed to take in the cases examined. Weak and strong forms of affiliation are described, and affiliated universities are compared to “proprietary” universities, i.e., those owned by individuals who govern them from their positions in the board of directors, and “independent” universities, in which governance lies with internal – academic or administrative – constituents. Albeit derived from the case of Chile, the typology could be applied to the analysis of private higher education in other national systems. The second part of the article seeks to ascertain whether affiliation operates as a source of differentiation in Chilean private higher education. Results show that, compared to the other types of private universities, the affiliated ones possess distinctive mission statements and declarations of principles, consistent with the orientations of their sponsor institutions, they tend to be smaller, and to have more full-time and better qualified faculty. Some receive financial support from their sponsor organization or its members. Distinctiveness was not found in indicators of prestige and student selectivity, nor in tuition levels, program offerings, curriculum design, the weight of research and graduate programs in their functions, student socioeconomic profile, and faculty involvement in governance. This is not to say that there are no differences in these dimensions among private universities: much diversity exists, but most of it cuts across all categories of interest for our study. Overall, affiliation does not appear to be a strong factor behind the diversification that exists in the Chilean private university sector.     

The Analytic System of Martin Heidegger’s Da-sein and the Anthropology of Max Scheler in the Educational Perspective

When applied to education, Heidegger’s analysis of Da-sein suggests that in his ontology the epistemological problem of clarifying cognition is replaced by the existential problem of the cognition of the understanding individual. Thus, Heidegger treats “education” ontologically as the ability to achieve Da-sein as one’s own true and integral being whose Da-sein always takes precedence in understanding. On this basis, we can say that Heidegger treats education as a transcendental ontological structure that he, like Scheler, calls “disclosedness.” And although Heidegger almost never uses the term “education” in his analytic system, preferring instead to use expressions such as “authentic being,” “projection of the self,” etc., all of this content that he invests in this term closely follows Scheler’s interpretation, because it also characterizes human existence as “open” and “not foreordained.” For Scheler, the same “open” existence is an expression of existential human freedom, since it serves to manifest the spirit as the ontological principle. Considered in epistemological and value terms, this freedom, according to Scheler, is what he refers to as “education,” a transcending state of being that is manifested for another thing in existence as something that is “known” by loving participation in it with a view to achieving “one’s authentic self.”     

Performance equivalency between computer‐based and traditional pen‐and‐paper assessment: A case study in clinical anatomy

The time, material, and staff‐consuming nature of anatomy's traditional pen‐and‐paper assessment system, the increase in the number of students enrolling in medical schools and the ever‐escalating workload of academic staff have made the use of computer‐based assessment (CBA) an attractive proposition. To understand the impact of such shift in the assessment method, an experimental study evaluating its effect on students’ performance was designed. Additionally, students’ opinions toward CBA were gathered. Second‐year medical students attending a Clinical Anatomy course were randomized by clusters in two groups. The pen‐and‐paper group attended two sessions, each consisting of a traditional sectional anatomy steeplechase followed by a theoretical examination, while the computer group was involved in two similar sessions conducted in a computerized environment. At the end of each of the computer sessions, students in this group filled an anonymous questionnaire. In the first session, pen‐and‐paper group students scored significantly better than computer‐group students in both the steeplechase (mean ± standard deviation: 66.00 ± 14.15% vs. 43.50 ± 19.10%; P < 0.001) and the theoretical examination (52.50 ± 12.70% vs. 39.00 ± 21.10%; P < 0.001). In the second session, no statistically significant differences were found for both the steeplechase (59.50 ± 17.30% vs. 54.50 ± 17.00%; P = 0.085) and the theoretical examination (57.50 ± 13.70% vs. 54.00 ± 14.30%; P = 0.161). Besides, an intersession improvement in students’ perceptions toward CBA was registered. These results suggest that, after a familiarization period, CBA might be a performance equivalent and student accepted alternative to clinical anatomy pen‐and‐paper theoretical and practical examinations. Anat Sci Educ 11: 124–136. © 2017 American Association of Anatomists.