Perinatal Nurses Respond to Shared Decision-Making Education: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Women describe a loss of autonomy during childbirth as a contributing factor to labor dissatisfaction. Shared decision-making with choice, option, and decision talk may improve satisfaction. Nurses (n = 29) received education on supporting women''s autonomy with a standardized communication tool (SUPPORT) to facilitate shared decision-making and create an evolving birth plan. This quasi-experimental pre-/post-test design evaluated participant responses to the education module. Participants supported the use of the SUPPORT tool for shared decision-making and developing evolving birth plans. Most recommended initiation between 13- and 26-weeks'' gestation. Nurses'' willingness to advocate for women''s autonomy increased significantly after education (p = .022). Shared decision-making with standardized perinatal communication may support a woman''s perinatal education and her satisfaction with labor.     

Inspiratory Muscle Training in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: The State of the Evidence

Purpose: The purpose of the present review was to assess the quality of evidence in the literature regarding the specific benefits of inspiratory muscle training (IMT) with an emphasis on training intensity and the relationships between changes in inspiratory muscle function and other clinical outcome measures. Methods: Articles were found by searching CINAHL, PubMed, Medline via First Search, and ProQuest databases. Articles used in the review were randomized trials of IMT vs. sham IMT or no intervention, published in English in a peer-reviewed journal, included patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and specified the intensity of training. The quality of the studies was evaluated by 2 independent reviewers using the methodological rigor scale described by Medlicott and Harris as well as Sackett''s levels of evidence. Fifteen articles met the inclusion criteria and were used in this review. Results: Consistent improvements in maximal inspiratory pressures (ranging from −11 to −30 cm H₂O) and inspiratory muscle endurance were found. Improvements in dyspnea and health-related quality of life were also observed. Inspiratory muscle training may result in improved exercise tolerance as measured using walking tests. High-intensity IMT resulted in improved training efficiency with respect to inspiratory muscle strength, but evidence of the effect of high-intensity IMT on other clinical outcomes is lacking. Conclusion: Despite research spanning decades, there are numerous limitations in the literature regarding IMT. IMT appears to improve dyspnea, waking test distance, and health-related quality of life in individuals with COPD, but it is not clear whether this improvement is mediated through improved inspiratory muscle strength and endurance. This review discussed several considerations critical to the design of future trials.Key Words: inspiratory muscle training, COPD     

When Fact Conceals Privilege: Teaching the (Shared?) Reality of Disability

Disability studies in education scholars have discussed the need to engage students, and certainly preservice teachers, in critical discussion of disability as a concept. To better understand what such critical discussion entails, Ashley Taylor examines the pedagogical implications of promoting an understanding of disability as a shared experience of being human. In particular, Taylor is concerned with how the appeal to a shared experience of disability (which she calls “the shared reality view”) might contribute to or impede students' development of critical attitudes toward ableist social and educational practices. She describes two chief limitations of the shared reality view and argues that these complicate efforts to teach about disability in ways that avoid reinforcing students' existing beliefs. Taylor concludes by offering a pedagogical framework that retains valuable aspects of the shared reality view while avoiding its limitations.     

DIMENSIONALITY AND MEASUREMENT INVARIANCE OF A SCHOOL READINESS SCREENER BY ETHNICITY AND HOME LANGUAGE

This study examined the dimensionality and measurement invariance of the Kindergarten Student Entrance Profile (KSEP) when used to rate the school readiness of children from different ethnic backgrounds (Latino or White, non‐Latino), as well as from households where a different language was predominant (Spanish or English). Teachers rated the readiness of 9,335 children during the first month of kindergarten in four ethnically diverse, medium‐sized school districts in central California. From the total sample, two overlapping subsamples (S1 and S2) were identified. First, a series of confirmatory factor analyses were conducted with S1 (n = 7,787) to examine the dimensionality and measurement invariance of the KSEP with children who identified as either Latino or White at the time of kindergarten enrollment. Next, the same set of analyses were replicated with S2 (n = 9, 234) to examine whether results held for students from households where the primary language spoken was Spanish or English. Results yielded evidence supporting a two‐factor structure encompassing social‐emotional and cognitive dimensions of children's readiness. In addition, results showed the KSEP exhibited measurement invariance across student ethnicities (Latino/White) and home languages (Spanish/English). The results of this study provide psychometric evidence that is particularly important for a universal school readiness screener.     

Correction to: The effects of distant professional development model on second grade teachers’ instruction and students’ quality of procedural papers

Reading and Writing - A correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-021-10141-w     

Racialized bodies,pliable minds: ethnography on the fringe of transnational education

Through ethnographic research, this paper explores narratives of failure constructed within a private Australian accounting college in China. The accounts provided by teachers and students are problematized in order to address how racialization is enacted through accounts of failure within the research site. Through an interpretive theoretical framework and the methodology of Michael Burawoy, racialization is exposed as a form of justification for the concerns teachers and students faced. Within accounts of failure, racial framing of the body and the acculturated minds of students were simultaneously ascribed negative attributes deemed in contradiction with this form of transnational education. In unpacking how these processes of racialization are tied to the very structure of transnational education itself, this paper addresses how standardized and globalized curricula produce unintended local effects.