Development and evaluation of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) best care practices in long-term care online training program

ABSTRACT

We developed online training modules focused on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) designed to improve best care practices in long-term care settings, such as nursing homes, as a part of a federal grant focused on improving geriatric education for interprofessional (collaboration among different professions providing patient care) team members working in primary care settings. Faculty and clinicians with ADRD-expertise created and implemented an online asynchronous “ADRD Best Care Practices in Long-Term Care” program that includes audio-visual recorded presentations, a threaded case study, and supplemental information. Prior to enrolling in the course, participants complete a demographic survey and a modified 15-item version of the Alzheimer’s Disease Knowledge Scale. After completing the modules, participants complete a satisfaction survey and the ADKS. A total of 94 participants completed both the pre- and post-surveys. Satisfaction evaluation data showed that the majority of participants reported that the information presented was very clear (74.5%), was useful for their work (88.3%), and would improve the care that they provide to their geriatric patients (93.6%). Out of 15 possible.     

Teaching Competencies in Counselor Education: A Delphi Study

The authors used the Delphi method to identify counselor education teaching competencies. There were 3 phases of data collection, resulting in 152 teaching competencies within 4 domains: knowledge, skills, professional behaviors, and dispositions. Counselor educators and counselor education doctoral students might use these competencies to promote counselor educator training and teaching effectiveness.     

Towards mapping library and information science

In an earlier study by the authors, full-text analysis and traditional bibliometric methods were combined to map research papers published in the journal Scientometrics. The main objective was to develop appropriate techniques of full-text analysis and to improve the efficiency of the individual methods in the mapping of science. The number of papers was, however, rather limited. In the present study, we extend the quantitative linguistic part of the previous studies to a set of five journals representing the field of Library and Information Science (LIS). Almost 1000 articles and notes published in the period 2002–2004 have been selected for this exercise. The optimum solution for clustering LIS is found for six clusters. The combination of different mapping techniques, applied to the full text of scientific publications, results in a characteristic tripod pattern. Besides two clusters in bibliometrics, one cluster in information retrieval and one containing general issues, webometrics and patent studies are identified as small but emerging clusters within LIS. The study is concluded with the analysis of cluster representations by the selected journals.     

Longitudinal twin study of early literacy development: Preschool through Grade 1

Grade 1 literacy skills of twin children in Australia (New South Wales) and the United States (Colorado) were explored in a genetically sensitive design (N = 319 pairs). Analyses indicated strong genetic influence on word and nonword identification, reading comprehension, and spelling. Rapid naming showed more modest, though reliable, genetic influence. Phonological awareness was subject to high nonshared environment and no reliable genetic effects, and individual measures of memory and learning were also less affected by genes than nonshared environment. Multivariate analyses showed that the same genes affected word identification, reading comprehension, and spelling. Country comparisons indicated that the patterns of genetic influence on reading and spelling in Grade 1 were similar, though for the U.S. but not the Australian children new genes came on stream in the move from kindergarten to Grade 1. We suggest that this is because the more intensive kindergarten literacy curriculum in New South Wales compared with Colorado, consistent with the mean differences between the two countries, means that more of the genes are “online” sooner in Australia because of accelerated overall reading development.     

Undergraduate students’ attitudes towards mistakes in learning and academic achievement

The objective of the present study was to better understand a relatively under-researched topic, namely, undergraduate students’ attitudes towards mistakes and how their attitudes relate to academic achievement. A series of online surveys were administered to a sample of 207 first- and second-year undergraduate students. Using structural equational modelling, a hypothesised model was proposed to evaluate the following four research questions: (1) What is the effect of students’ trust in their instructor on students’ achievement goals? (2) What is the relationship between students’ achievement goals and their attitudes towards mistakes? (3) Is students’ attitudinal behaviour towards mistakes predictive of their perception of feedback? (4) Is students’ openness to discussing mistakes (ODM) and attitudinal behaviours predictive of their academic achievement? Both direct and indirect effects were found. Direct effects indicated that students’ trust in their instructor predicted achievement goals, students’ achievement goals differentially predicted attitudes towards mistakes, students’ ODM predicted perceptions of feedback, and students’ attitudinal behaviours predicted academic achievement. Students’ trust in their instructor and achievement goals had indirect effects on students’ achievement.     

Motivation and Meaning in Contemporary Art: From Tate Modern to the Primary School Classroom

‘Art Now in the Classroom’, was a joint venture between Goldsmiths College Education Department, Tate Modern and six Primary Schools in and around the London area (Sandhurst, Pilgrim's Way, Hawesdown, Hawkesmoore, Lauriston and Myatt Garden.) It ran from September to November 2000, beginning initially with the placement of two Goldsmiths students at each school then continuing with school visits to Tate Modern, and four Fridays spent working in the classroom, culminating in an exhibition at Tate Modern where the children from all six primary schools got to see their own work publicly displayed. This paper is an account of the work produced by the children from Sandhurst Primary School and an assessment of both the educational opportunities it provided for the primary classes involved and for the Goldsmiths students involved. The aims of the project were to demonstrate effective ways to work collaboratively with contemporary art, to support the development of teaching strategies at KS2 and KS3 and to offer possible approaches for working with contemporary material in the classroom.