Trapped between justified anger and being the strong Black woman: Black college women coping with racial battle fatigue at historically and predominantly White institutions

Using the unique form of a composite counterstory culled from the experiences of 13 Black women at historically and predominantly White colleges and universities in a Western U.S. state, this paper explores the psychological tensions and silencing Black college women face as they navigate social constructions of their selfhood under a White gaze. This study centers these Black women’s voices through a tradition of storytelling and examines the ways they try to carve their own place by often engaging liberating, yet repressive, historically constructed STRONGBLACKWOMAN imagery to counteract equally silencing Angry Black Woman imagery. The historically and predominantly White institutional spaces within which these women study, live, and play exacerbate this tension, propelling them to model and rely upon stereotypically ‘positive’ representations of Black womanhood to deal with the pain of microaggressions. Altogether, these factors create instances of enhanced racial battle fatigue.     

Health sciences librarians' research on medical students' use of information for their studies at the medical school, University of Queensland, Australia

This study reports the findings of research undertaken by health sciences librarians at the University of Queensland Library into how medical students use information for their studies, particularly resources and services provided by the Library. The methods utilized were an online survey and focus groups. Results indicated that students favor print resources over electronic, value accessing resources on a one-stop basis, and prefer training to be delivered flexibly. The implication of these results for future resource selection, service provision, and instructional design and delivery is discussed.     

War-related trauma linked to increased sustained attention to threat in children

Experiences of war and displacement can have profound effects on children's affective development and mental health, although the mechanism(s) underlying these effects remain unknown. This study investigated the link between early adversity and attention to affective stimuli using a free-viewing eye-tracking paradigm with Syrian refugee (n = 31, M_age = 9.55, 12 female) and Jordanian non-refugee (n = 55, M_age = 9.98, 30 female) children living in Jordan (March 2020). Questionnaires assessed PTSD, anxiety/depression, insecurity, distress, and trauma. Refugee children showed greater initial avoidance of angry and happy faces compared to non-refugee children, and higher trauma exposure was linked to increased sustained attention to angry stimuli. These findings suggest that war-related trauma may have differential effects on the early and later stages of affective processing in refugee children.     

Supporting student teachers in developing and applying professional knowledge with videoed events

Student teachers often struggle with handling events in the complex environment that is a classroom. This article reports on a study that investigates the potential of using video-based materials to support mathematics student teachers in developing and applying professional knowledge. Student teachers viewed videos of classroom events with possible teacher reactions to each event. This article reports on the discourse that occurred before and after the viewing of the four possible responses in terms of the content and the nature of the discussions. Results show that when the event focused on mathematics, the focus of the responses shifted from themselves as teachers to the learners. However, the converse was true when the event focused on generic classroom management issues. Additionally, the nature of both sets of responses became more evaluative and interpretive following the video clips of possible responses.     

Does self-determination predict the school engagement of four different motivation types in adolescence?

In order to enhance our understanding of inter-individual differences in scholastic motivation, this study examined if self-determination predicts the school engagement of four different motivation types (MT) in a large sample of adolescent students (N = 1088) from Brandenburg, Germany: (1) peer-dependent MT, (2) teacher-dependent MT, (3) peer-and-teacher-dependent MT and (4) peer-and-teacher-independent MT. Using structural equation modelling (SEM), the four types were first compared on latent variables (perceived self-determination and school engagement) and then, a latent multigroup SEM was conducted to test whether self-determination (competence, relatedness and autonomy) would predict emotional and behavioural school engagement separately by MT. The findings underscore the relevance of the typology as well as important inter-individual differences in the association between students’ psychological needs (competence, relatedness and autonomy) and their school engagement.     

Teaching for well-being? Introducing mindfulness in an undergraduate course

Student mental health and well-being are increasing concerns in higher education. This exploratory study examined students’ learning in a mindfulness programme incorporated into an undergraduate class. Six brief mindfulness-based practices were introduced: mindfulness meditation, walking meditation, body scan, mindful eating, loving-kindness and Tonglen meditation. Fourteen students were interviewed after completion of the course to explore their conceptions and use of mindfulness and other self-care practices. Results of thematic analyses suggest that there were variations in students’ adoption of mindfulness-based practices and students’ preferred mindfulness techniques. Most participants reported that mindfulness instruction and practice were beneficial but this was not universal; some students reported that mindfulness was ‘not for them’. Findings suggest that mindfulness fostered self-reflection, self-awareness and relaxation for many students and incorporating mindfulness at the beginning of class improved the overall quality of discussion and facilitated students’ learning. Findings further suggest that students incorporated mindfulness into existing self-care practices that included a variety of other preferred techniques to enhance self-reflection, self-awareness and relaxation. Overall, our findings suggest that students should be helped, through explicit instruction, to develop a ‘toolbox’ of self-care approaches that may include, but are not necessarily limited to, mindfulness techniques.     

Science Letters: Vascular architecture: is it a helpful histopathological biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma?

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains one of the major public health problems throughout the world. Although originally associated with tumorigenic processes, liver angiogenesis has also been observed in the context of different liver inflammatory, fibrotic, and ischemic conditions. Here we investigate the fractal dimension as a quantitator of non-Euclidean two-dimensional vascular geometry in a series of paired specimens of primary HCC and surrounding non-tumoral tissue, and discuss why this parameter might provide additional information regarding cancer behavior. The application of fractal geometry to the measurement of liver vascularity and the availability of a computer-aided quantitative method can eliminate errors in visual interpretation, and make it possible to obtain closer-to-reality numerals that are compulsory for any measurement process.     

Resistance in the classroom – from dysfunctional to functional: A future necessary skill?

This article reports on resistance in primary schools, more specific grade five learners as perceived by teachers. A qualitative phenomenological interpretative approach was followed utilising focus group discussions and individual interviews. Participants included 14 teachers, purposefully selected from three private and three public schools in Gauteng. Data were thematically analysed. Four main themes were identified: 1) manifestations in the classroom differentiated by active or passive resistance, either positive or negative; 2) a causal model of reasoning; 3) teacher-learner relationships affected by negative and positive perceptions; and 4) constructive suggestions for support holding value for practical application. Findings revealed that resistance in the primary school classroom (the result of the interaction between the learner and contextual factors), is still often assumed as negative and dysfunctional to teaching; however, it can equally be conducive and functional depending on the interaction. Teachers display a more flexible, resilient and positive understanding of contributing factors, and they value resistance if it signifies creativity and independent problem solving, leading to more positive teacherlearner relationships.     

Integrating acupuncture: are there positive health outcomes for women?

The key health issues for women tend to be primarily associated with the female reproductive system. There are also other gender priorities and consequences associated with ageing, which require effective interventions. Acupuncture is used worldwide and its evidence base is increasing on both mechanisms of action and its effectiveness in clinical care. Although acupuncture may be a valuable addition to healthcare for some conditions, it is rarely fully integrated into mainstream Western medicine clinical practice. Inadequate design and poor reporting of clinical trials have been barriers. Additionally systematic reviews and meta-analyses have tended to be equivocal and have reported that there is insufficient evidence for its recommendation. Future research should focus on ensuring good trial design including cost effectiveness and qualitative data and using a more pragmatic stance which reflects acupuncture in clinical practice. Undoubtedly, effective interventions are always needed to ensure the best health outcomes and address preventable deaths, morbidities, and disabilities among women but integration will be compromised unless underpinned by good evidence.