Avoiding versus seeking: the relationship of information seeking to avoidance, blunting, coping, dissonance, and related concepts.

QUESTION: How have theorists and empirical researchers treated the human tendency to avoid discomforting information? DATA SOURCES: A historical review (1890-2004) of theory literature in communication and information studies, coupled with searches of recent studies on uptake of genetic testing and on coping strategies of cancer patients, was performed. STUDY SELECTION: The authors' review of the recent literature included searches of the MEDLINE, PsychInfo, and CINAHL databases between 1992 and summer of 2004 and selective, manual searches of earlier literature. Search strategies included the following subject headings and key words: MeSH headings: Genetic Screening/psychology, Decision Making, Neoplasms/diagnosis/genetics/psychology; CINAHL headings: Genetic Screening, Genetic Counseling, Anxiety, Decision Making, Decision Making/Patient; additional key words: avoidance, worry, monitoring, blunting, cancer. The "Related Articles" function in MEDLINE was used to perform additional "citation pearl" searching. MAIN RESULTS: The assumption that individuals actively seek information underlies much of psychological theory and communication practice, as well as most models of the information-seeking process. However, much research has also noted that sometimes people avoid information, if paying attention to it will cause mental discomfort or dissonance. Cancer information in general and genetic screening for cancer in particular are discussed as examples to illustrate this pattern. CONCLUSION: That some patients avoid knowledge of imminent disease makes avoidance behavior an important area for social and psychological research, particularly with regard to genetic testing.     

Strategies for maintaining fitness and performance during Ramadan

The Muslim athlete, whether living in a Muslim majority country or in a non-Muslim country, face unique challenges to faithfully follow one of the pillars of their faith - Ramadan - while attempting to maintain their participation in sports training and competition. There are conflicting reports on the effects of Ramadan on fitness and physical performance in general and in football in particular. In general, the impact of a brief daytime fast has minor effects on health or factors of physical fitness. Add physical training and now a new set of barriers to both performance and the observance of Ramadan begin to interact. Practising athletes have worked out strategies to cope with the rigors of Ramadan; strategies that have both physical (training modifications, dietary habits, rest and recovery) and emotional (patience, emotional preparations) domains. Carefully blending strategies like these can help the football player be true to their faith and follow the tenants of Ramadan hopefully, with a minimum of impact on their physical performance. In this context, science can help coaches improve their training plans and educate players with respect to the challenges presented by Ramadan to all levels of sports participation.     

Incentive Pay Programs

An attempt was made to formulate a theoretical framework of leadership forces in school organisations, which includes bureaucratic linkage, cultural linkage, tight coupling and loose coupling. Two instruments, the School Values Inventory (SVI) and the Teachers' School Life Questionnaire (TSLQ), were created and developed for this study to assess the administrative values espoused by principals and teachers' feelings about school life. Based on data collected from 1395 teachers from a randomly selected sample of 39 secondary schools in Hong Kong, the four scales of leadership forces in secondary schools were confirmed. Findings show that cultural linkage and loose coupling were the most effective leadership forces to bind people together within schools, tight coupling the next, but the use of bureaucratic linkage was controversial.     

Using Preservice Teachers to Improve Computer Skills of At-Risk Alternative High School Students

This research examined the impact of preservice teachers delivering individualized instruction of basic computer skills to at-risk, ethnic minority alternative high school students in an urban school district in South Texas. The alternative high school students' achievement of computer skills, motivation to use computers, and self-efficacy as current and future students was assessed. University preservice teachers taught a keyboard/computer skills curriculum developed specifically for this collaborative teaching and learning project in 10 1-hr-long sessions 2 times a week over a 5-week period. A series of 2 by 2 repeated measures analysis of variance showed achievement gains as measured by a survey instrument within the treatment group. This small, preliminary study supports the use of preservice teachers in the delivery of an individualized, computer-based program of instruction for at-risk students.     

Critical Democratic Teacher Preparation and the Practice of Council

“If democracy is to become a way of life in contemporary North American life, we certainly need to have schools with strong democratic commitments... if we are going to have democratic schools, we need teachers with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for developing sustained democratic ways of educating... if we are going to seek and sustain democratic teachers, we will also need... democratic teacher educators...” (Novak, 1994, p. ix)     

How instructional design experts use knowledge and experience to solve ill‐structured problems

This study examined how instructional design (ID) experts used their prior knowledge and previous experiences to solve an ill‐structured instructional design problem. Seven experienced designers used a think‐aloud procedure to articulate their problem‐solving processes while reading a case narrative. Results, presented in the form of four assertions, showed that experts (1) narrowed the problem space by identifying key design challenges, (2) used an amalgam of knowledge and experience to interpret the problem situation, (3) incorporated a mental model of the ID process in their problem analyses, and (4) came to similar conclusions about how to respond to the situation, despite differences in their initial conceptualizations. Implications for educating novice instructional designers are discussed.     

Space and the Social Worth of Public Libraries

In spite of the growth of digital information and the resultant questioning by some of the value of public libraries, library usage data indicate there were 497,600,000 more visits to public libraries in 2013 than in 1993. Why do people still visit public libraries in the digital age? While many factors drive people to visit public libraries, one thing that public libraries offer that cannot be duplicated online is physical space. Over the decades, library space has been the glue holding the library universe together even as the specific activities that take inside libraries have evolved. While public libraries do an excellent job of promoting their important role in providing access to information, educational resources, technology, and a host of valuable services, they must also promote the value of public library space itself. This requires more than trotting out numbers; it requires telling compelling stories of how public library space is used and reminding the public that the kind of spaces public libraries provide are, in fact, a vanishing resource. The post-911 tightening of security in public buildings of all sorts—coupled with the increasing privatization of what were once public spaces—has left public libraries as perhaps the last remaining indoor public spaces where an individual can remain from opening until closing without needing any reason to be there and without having to spend any money. Public libraries should promote the uniqueness of their spaces in much the same way that National Parks promote the unique spaces they preserve and make available to the public.