Nontraditional Students' Service Needs and Social Support Resources: A Pilot Study

In response to a mail survey, 53 nontraditional undergraduates provided information about their reasons for reentering college, the likelihood of using services for nontraditional students, and sources of social support. Participants reported career, self‐improvement, and family issues as primary reasons for reentry. They reported they would be likely or very likely to use campus services, especially career counseling. More than 60% reported strong social support from family and friends.     

Treating sexually abused children: 1 year follow-up of a randomized controlled trial

OBJECTIVE: To measure the durability of improvement in response to two alternative treatments for sexually abused children. METHOD: Eighty-two sexually abused children ages 8-15 years old and their primary caretakers were randomly assigned to trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) or non-directive supportive therapy (NST) delivered over 12 sessions; this study examines symptomatology during 12 months posttreatment. DATA ANALYSIS: Intent-to-treat and treatment completer repeated measures analyses were conducted. RESULTS: Intent-to-treat indicated significant group x time effects in favor of TF-CBT on measures of depression, anxiety, and sexual problems. Among treatment completers, the TF-CBT group evidenced significantly greater improvement in anxiety, depression, sexual problems and dissociation at the 6-month follow-up and in PTSD and dissociation at the 12-month follow-up. CONCLUSION: This study provides additional support for the durability of TF-CBT effectiveness.     

Memory and Speed: Their Role in the Relation of Infant Information Processing to Later IQ

This study examined the extent to which memory and processing speed accounted for relations we had found earlier between infant information processing and childhood IQ. The measures of speed and memory were obtained when the children were 11 years of age using paper-and-pencil tasks and an extensive battery of computer-administered tasks. The relations of 7 month visual recognition memory and 1 years cross-modal transfer to 11 years IQ were both substantially reduced with statistical control of factors dericed from these measures. These results suggest that speed and memory underlie some of the infant-childhood continuities in cognition. Path and stuctural equation modeling indicated that the significant pathways from 7 month visual recognition memory to 11 year IQ were nboth directr and indirect, the indirect paths going through memory and speed.     

From secrecy to sunshine: An overview of presidential search practice

The process by which American colleges and universities select their presidents has undergone considerable change in recent years. Once conducted entirely in private by a small group of trustees, presidential searches occur today in a climate of constituency participation and access to information. This paper draws upon survey data to examine the range and frequency of current search practices regarding constituency involvement and confidentiality and disclosure. The paper first considers search committee membership, noting the composition and size of presidential search committees. It then examines the range of policies regarding constituent access to information about candidates and search committee deliberations. Three policies are described: complete confidentiality, full disclosure, and limited disclosure. Finally, the paper discusses the causes of unintended disclosure and evaluates the impact of these leaks on the search.     

Occupational health nurses' perceptions of their education and training needs to meet the new public health agenda using the nominal group technique

This was a study to collect the views of Occupational Health Nurses (OHNs) working in the NHS in the West Midlands Region of the UK. It was a project to collect OHNs' perceptions about their education and training needs to meet the new public health agenda, using a focus group technique, Nominal Group Technique (NGT). There has been a series of public policy developments recently that have focused on the work/health dimension as an element of public health (Health and Safety Executive (HSE) 1998, Department of Health (DOH), 1998, National Health Service Executive (NHSE) 1998). These initiatives require the expertise and skill of occupational health professionals in the workplace to deliver care. In many organizations occupational health is not seen as a central or integral part of the organizational structure, rather a service to be used when things go dreadfully wrong. There is a clear need for management skills in this group, together with a much stronger grounding in law and the legislative framework. There is a need to take an evidence-based approach to occupational health, and to start sharing expert knowledge that can be applied to daily working in the NHS. It was identified that clarity around funding arrangements is necessary for this group of practitioners, which will be in line with all other NHS employees. Many of the participants wanted education and training opportunities, which were offered on an incremental basis, not all at specialist practitioner level.     

Tiger Mothers and Praise Junkies: Children,Praise and the Reactive Attitudes

In this article, I look at some discussions of praising children in contemporary parenting advice. In exploring what is problematic about these discussions, I turn to some philosophical work on moral praise and blame which, I argue, indicates the need for a more nuanced response to questions about the significance of praise. A further analysis of the moral aspects of praise suggests a significant dimension of the parent‐child relationship that is missing from, and obscured by, the kind of parenting advice exemplified by the discussions of praise with which I began.     

RESEARCH REPORT

The study explores teachers’ experiences of teaching a context‐based chemistry course, Salters Advanced Chemistry, as compared with teachers of a conventional course. Second, main factors that appear to influence decisions over whether or not to adopt context‐based courses are investigated. Two hundred and twenty‐two teachers’ views of a context‐based and a conventional school advanced chemistry course were obtained from a questionnaire. Responses were analysed in six dimensions: motivation, chemical knowledge and development of concepts, learning activities, assessment, challenge to teachers and students, and teacher support. Both sets of teachers agreed that the context‐based course is more motivating to study and teach, that students would be more interested in chemistry and more likely to go to university to study chemistry, that students would be better able to study independently but that it is more demanding to teach and study. The groups differed principally about concept development and teaching strategy. The context‐based teachers believed that their course gave as good a foundation for further study as a traditional course and that the spiral curriculum was advantageous. Conventional course teachers disagreed with both statements. One significant implication to emerge from the study is the crucial role played by in‐service support in influencing the impact of a curriculum innovation.     

A Burning Desire for Social Justice

The relationship between personal prayer and perceived purpose in life is explored among two samples of twelve‐to‐fifteen‐year‐olds. The first sample comprises 914 males and 726 females who never attend church. The second sample comprises 232 males and 437 females who attend church most weeks. The data demonstrate a significant positive relationship between frequency of personal prayer and perceived purpose in life among both groups.     

OLDER WOMEN,THE STUDENT ROLE AND MENTAL HEALTH

Returning women students over 50, although growing in number, have been largely ignored as a unique group by both educational gerontologists and scholars interested in non‐traditional women students.

Matched groups (N = 106) of student (outwardly oriented) and non‐student (home oriented) women (mean age = 55.67, s.d. = 5.25) were compared on measures of subjective age and attitudes toward age, perceived happiness and satisfaction, perceived physical health, number and severity of depressive symptoms, self‐esteem and autonomy. The student group was found to report better health, fewer and less severe depressive symptoms and higher autonomy.

Psychological transitions facing mid‐life women are discussed. Possibilities of educational participation as preventive of mid‐life depression for women are discussed. Future longitudinal, cohort‐sequential research should focus on mid‐life and older women students as a unique group.