Relationships among childhood maltreatment, PTSD, and health in female veterans in primary care

OBJECTIVE: Women with histories of childhood maltreatment (CM) have higher rates of physical health problems and greater medical utilization compared to women without abuse histories. This study examined whether current post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms mediate the relationship between CM and indicators of physical health and medical utilization in female veterans. METHOD: Respondents were 221 female veterans (56% of the potential sample), who received medical care from the San Diego VA Healthcare System during a 12-month period. Respondents provided self-report information about CM, PTSD symptoms, use of pain medication, and physical symptoms and functioning. Additional information about medical utilization was extracted from respondents' medical charts. Regression-based models were conducted to test whether PTSD symptoms mediate the relationships between CM and physical symptoms and between CM and medical utilization. RESULTS: Emotional abuse was associated with poorer role-physical functioning, increased bodily pain and greater odds of using pain medication in the past 6 months. Physical abuse was associated with poorer general health. Contrary to prediction, emotional neglect was associated with better role-physical functioning, and CM was not associated with increased healthcare utilization. PTSD was shown to mediate the relationship between emotional and physical abuse and health outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: PTSD, or psychopathology more generally, appears to be an important factor in the negative health impact of CM. Given that several empirically supported interventions are available for PTSD, there may be physical health benefits in early identification and treatment of psychopathology related to CM.     

A social skills group for children

Abstract

An NHS Trust set up groups to teach social skills to children and adolescents using a cognitive behavioural framework. One group of seven children (five boys and two girls) is described. Parents were invited to a parallel parents' group. Each group lasted for 90 minutes and ran weekly for 6 weeks. Extensive liaison with parents and teachers took place before, during and after the group. Analysis of pre- and postgroup questionnaires sent to parents and teachers indicated improved social functioning, outside the group, for most of the children. Parents valued the dialogue with professionals and often felt supported by them for the first time. Therapists' contact with teachers ensured full knowledge of children's behaviour and the transfer of skills to schools. Cognitive behavioural techniques with children under-going group work require intensive liaison to facilitate generalization of skills learnt.     

Instructional Tasks and the Development of Student Capacity to Think and Reason: An Analysis of the Relationship between Teaching and Learning in a Reform Mathematics Project

Abstract

In the present study the relationship between teaching and learning was examined using a conceptual framework that links dimensions of instructional tasks with gains in student learning outcomes. The greatest student gains on a performance assessment consisting of tasks that require high levels of mathematical thinking and reasoning were related to the use of instructional tasks that engaged students in the “doing of mathematics” or the use of procedures with connections to meaning. In addition, student performance gains were greater for those sites whose tasks were both set up and implemented to encourage the use of multiple solution strategies, multiple representations, and explanations. Whereas, student performance gains were relatively small for those sites whose tasks tended to be both set up and implemented in a procedural manner and that required a single solution strategy, single representations, and little or no mathematical communication.     

Effects of a Classroom Management Intervention on Student Achievement in Inner‐City Elementary Schools

ABSTRACT

As part of a study of the life‐cycle of inner‐city schools, the achievement of elementary school students (on MAT6 and TEAMS tests) who had teachers trained in a classroom management program in one school were compared with students in a comparison school during a four‐year period. Students at Madison Elementary School showed statistically greater achievement gains on both nationally normed achievement tests (MAT6) and on state criterion‐referenced achievement battery than students at the comparison school in each of three years. The overall effect size due to program treatment on the MAT6 test scores was large, ranging from .43 (1986–87) and .83 (1987–88) during intervention to .73 (1988–89) after intervention. Similar results were found in the TEAMS test associated with the program intervention with overall effect size of 1.02 (1987–88) and .78 (1988–89) in mathematics, .68 and .77 in reading, and .59 and .77 in writing for the respective years. On measures of learning environment, in a post hoc analysis (1990–91), students at Madison perceived their environment to be significantly more positive than comparison students. Teacher and principal interviews during and after the intervention periods provided contextual guidance for the findings.     

Everything is illuminated: What big data can tell us about teacher commentary

What happens to writing instructors’ feedback when they use a common rubric and an online tool to respond to student papers in a first-year composition course at a large state university in the United States? To investigate this question, we analyze the 118,611 comments instructors made when responding to 17,433 student essays. Using concordance software to quantify teachers’ use of rubric terms, we found instructors were primarily concerned with global, substantive, higher-order concerns—such as responding to students’ rhetorical situations, use of reason, and organization—rather than lower-order concerns about grammar or formatting. Given past research has determined teachers overemphasize lower-order concerns such as grammar, mechanics, and punctuation (Connors and Lunsford, 1988, Lunsford and Lunsford, 2008, Moxley and Joseph, 1989, Moxley and Joseph, 1992, Schwartz, 1984, Sommers, 1982, Stern and Solomon, 2006), these results may suggest the possibility of a generational shift when it comes to response to student writing. Aggregating teacher commentary, student work, and peer review responses via digital tools and employing concordance software to identify big-data patterns illuminates a new assessment practice for Writing Program Administrators—the practice of Deep Assessment.     

Intelligibility is equity: Can international students read undergraduate admissions materials?

Fewer international students have applied to and enrolled in US institutions, as 40 per cent of US institutions reported a drop in international applications since 2016. Subsequently, US institutions must ensure that their international admissions materials are as equitable and transparent as possible. Expanding previous work, this study examines the readability and translation of international undergraduate admissions materials of 335 four‐year public and non‐profit private US institutions. Results reveal these materials are written near a 14th‐grade reading comprehension level, only 1 per cent of institutions provide web‐embedded translation tools on their websites and 91 per cent of institutions provide English‐only content. Implications for practitioners, policymakers and future research are addressed.     

Gendered inequalities in competitive grant funding: an overlooked dimension of gendered power relations in academia

ABSTRACT

Research grant funding influences the organisation of academic work and academic careers. We problematise general approaches to gender bias in research grant funding and argue that it fails to include the wider structures of inequality and the unequal gendered power relations in academia. Approaching the subject with gender budgeting we challenge assumed gender-neutral practices. The objective is to illuminate how the gendered funding system and (the previous and subsequent) gendered structures of academia are maintained. The whole grants scheme is assessed, drawing on statistical data collected on the whole population of a medium-size, comprehensive research and educational institution in Iceland, and two types of competitive grants. The data is measured against the pool of applicants and comparisons within and between fields and ranks are made. By including the structures of inequality and the gendered power relations, the results show how the funding system is biased not only in favour of men, but towards the male-dominated and culturally masculine positions and fields. This approach illustrates the need to address the whole academic system in order to challenge the norms that maintain and reproduce gender inequalities.     

学龄前双语聋童课堂教学评析

近年来,欧美一些国家积极倡导聋童双语教育,我国也于十年前开始聋童双语教育实验.最近由中国和挪威研究人员组成研究小组,对某省5所聋校进行了学龄前双语班课堂教学评估,重在分析课堂中教师与儿童的互动水平.研究将课堂教学行为分为不同类型,进行定时观察记录,并结合访谈和现场观察等方法共同分析.研究认为,教师在课堂中具有高控制性,儿童与教师、儿童与儿童之问语言交流空间少,聋人教师未能充分发挥作用,不同学校之间存在明显差异.